Clarity Sought as OUTA Challenges Government on E-Toll Debt Collection

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), a civil action group in South Africa, has been at the forefront of challenging the government over its handling of the Gauteng e-tolls saga, citing conflicting statements and policies as a source of public confusion and frustration.

In a recent development, Mampho Modise, the deputy director-general of public finance at the National Treasury, stated that the Gauteng province had agreed to pursue the collection of outstanding e-toll debts. This announcement stands in stark contrast to the prevailing public understanding that the e-toll system is to be done away with, as declared by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in October 2022 and reiterated by Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi in the state of the province address.

OUTA's CEO, Wayne Duvenage, has pointed out the discrepancies in statements made by government officials, questioning the credibility of the latest declarations, especially in the context of an election year. He has raised concerns about who the public should trust amidst the differing narratives presented by Sanral, which is responsible for collecting e-toll debts, and the Gauteng provincial government.

The organization has criticized the government's indecisiveness and the apparent inability to implement policies effectively. Furthermore, OUTA has highlighted the legal quandary caused by Sanral's cessation of issuing summonses for e-toll defaulters in 2019 and the fact that most of the related debt has probably become uncollectable due to prescription.

Although Sanral's board resolved to halt e-toll summonses in March 2019, numerous legal cases, which question the constitutionality of the e-toll scheme, remain unresolved. These cases, which OUTA has actively been defending on behalf of motorists, collectively amount to over R262 million and have been put on hold, leaving their legal status uncertain.

OUTA has reaffirmed its commitment to defending each motorist who has received a summons for unpaid e-toll debts, subject to the organization’s capacity and mandate to do so. They have emphasized the irrationality of the government's continued attempts to collect debt from a system which is expected to be abandoned and has been deemed inefficient, costly, and largely unpopular among the public.

The e-toll scheme, operational since 2013, has faced significant opposition from various quarters, including Gauteng motorists and other organizations such as the Automobile Association (AA). According to OUTA, only about 10% to 12% of road users in Gauteng have been compliant with the e-toll payments.

The organization quests genuine clarity and resolution on the matter, urging the government to align its statements and actions in order to finally put the e-toll controversy to rest and provide motorists with definitive answers regarding the status of their e-toll debts.