E-Toll High Court battle begins

The first session in the North Gauteng High Court in the matter of the application for an interdict to stop e-tolling from commencing on April 30 was solely focused on whether leave should be granted for the applicants to be allowed an amendment to their original applications.

Advocate Alistair Franklin SC for the applicants, OUTA among others, put their case that after their original application three notices were published in the Government Gazette that forces the applicants to amend the grounds on which they are basing their application for an interdict.

The notices published were the tariffs on April 13, the conditions for toll on April 18 and the exemption of public transport, also on April 18.

“These provide additional grounds upon which we seek relief,” said Franklin.

He argued that these notices were published “at the 11th hour” and that the grounds for opposing the leave to amend from the respondents does not hold ground if it accuses the applicants of “being tardy” in their amendment application.

The argument of the “11th hour”, however, was also used by advocate David Unterhalter SC for the first respondent, Sanral.

He told Judge Bill Prinsloo that the amendment not only comes at the 11th hour, prejudicing Sanral because they only had one court day to respond, but that it also extends the case substantially.

He said the amendment focuses almost solely on the issue of the determination of tariffs, which was not mentioned as a ground for the original application, and thus should be striked and costs awarded to the first respondent, Sanral.

Legal counsel for the National Treasury, the seventh respondent, supported Unterhalter’s arguments.

Advocate Jeremy Gauntlett SC, for National Treasury, used the term “ambush” stating that the additional matter of tariffs are now hitched to the case by the applicants like a Venter trailer and contended that anything treated as additional is not urgent, otherwise it would have been the main case. He also asked for the application for amendment to be striked and that costs should be awarded also to National Treasury.

Source: MoneyWeb