The South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) announced yesterday (27 March) that it will no longer be pursuing motorists who owe money for e-tolls.
After talks of a R5.9-million bail-out and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s wanting to tackle the agency’s problems, SANRAL made the decision to scrap all e-toll debts owed to them.
Back in 2015, the road agency went to court to apply for over a thousand summons for motorists to pay their e-tolls, and to date claim to be missing up to 4,000 payments from summons issued mid-year in 2018. Summoned persons are said to have ignored these legal requests to appear in court to address their debts on unpaid e-tolls according to the Electronic Toll Collection, which collects toll payments for SANRAL.
Fortunately for citizens who haven’t complied and paid their e-toll debts, they will not be blacklisted, a lucky escape for many disenchanted users of e-tolls.
In a statement released on Wednesday 27 March, SANRAL stated: ‘No new summonses will be applied for. This decision will be constantly monitored by the board and reviewed according to prevailing circumstances. SANRAL is an agency of government and remains committed to delivering on its mission of a safe, efficient, reliable and resilient national road transport system for the benefit of all the people of South Africa.’
Since March 2019, light motor vehicle users would have to pay a maximum of R276 a month (30 cents for every kilometre), which isn’t a small chunk to part with amidst other financial priorities, but the electronic tolls were introduced to reduce the cost of major reconstruction by funding routine maintenance.
Others have speculated that this huge concession by SANRAL has larger implications, with some predicting the end of the national road agency. 2019 being an election year, many suspect this is a concession made by the ruling ANC government to win votes, and it’s not clear how long these concessions will last.
Image via Creative Commons
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