Sanral denies e-toll roadblocks

Johannesburg - The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) has refuted a claims that its staff are stopping people randomly in Johannesburg and Pretoria, forcing them to register for the e-toll system.

"Sanral would like to unequivocally state that no staff from either Sanral or its toll operator have conducted any roadblocks as described in the emails and social network postings that allege this," the agency said in a statement.

The alleged roadblocks were first reported on Twitter on January 22.

The transport department's body said its investigations during the course of this week suggested that the original Twitter incident possibly originated from a road user who saw e-toll workers conducting a road-marking operation, and interpreted that as some form of e-toll roadblock.

Although traffic cones and a vehicle were present it was part of a road-marking operation and not for forcing people to register. Similar road-marking operations are taking place at various interchanges in Gauteng.

"Sanral reiterates that the agency and ETC are not currently authorised to conduct roadblocks. As indicated, Sanral urges road users to take down detailed descriptions of the persons and vehicles involved should they be 'stopped and required to register'."