Johannesburg - The SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) must
disclose the names of all 33 sub-contractors involved in the collection
of e-tolls on Gauteng highways, the DA said on Sunday.
"This is after disturbing reports (on Sunday) about
African National Congress links to companies that will benefit from the
e-tolling," Democratic Alliance spokesperson Jack Bloom said in a
statement.
The DA has asked Public Protector Thuli Madonsela to investigate the controversial Gauteng e-toll collection contracts.
On Sunday, Bloom said he had received acknowledgement of his request.
"It is vital that this investigation goes ahead so that
we know the truth about who benefits from these controversial
contracts, and whether there was any corruption," he said.
The Sunday Times has reported that politically-connected companies stand to benefit from e-tolling contracts.
According to the newspaper, these included Tsebo
Holdings, South Africa's largest catering company, 15%
owned by Nozala Investments and 15% by Lereko.
The Sunday Times reported that Nozala is headed by
Salukazi Dakile-Hlongwane, a trustee of the ANC front company Chancellor
House, and that Lereko is owned by former environment minister Valli
Moosa and Chancellor House trustee Popo Molefe.
Other companies which stood to benefit are Vodacom and
GijimaAST, 35% owned by billionaire businessman Robert
Gumede, which won the two largest sub-contracts.
JSE-listed Gijima was awarded the contract to design and run the project's IT system, the Sunday Times reported.
Molefe was reportedly not aware that Tsebo had any e-tolling contract until told of this by the Sunday Times.
"We as Lereko have not been involved in any discussions
about e-tolling. We're not even on Tsebo's board, so we have no
influence," he told the newspaper.
The 33 sub-contractors were signed up by the Electronic Toll Consortium (ETC), after it was awarded the main R6.6bn contract by Sanral in 2009. The ETC is responsible for collecting
e-tolls.
The Sunday Times reported that the ETC had provided it with the names of only nine of the sub-contractors this week.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, ETC chief
executive Salahdin Yacoubi said he would not release the full list of
sub-contractors until he had "obtained permission" from them.
He said he had "nothing to hide" and would "collaborate with any investigation" into the beneficiaries of the e-toll contracts.
The Sunday Times also reported that a major beneficiary is the Swedish company Kapsch TrafficCom, which owns 40% of
the main contractor.
The company confirmed to the newspaper that, until
2000, it was owned by arms company Saab, which admitted in June to
paying bribes of more than R24m to ensure it was picked to supply
Gripen jets to South Africa in the arms deal.
The e-tolling system was halted last Saturday until a
full court review could be carried out to determine whether it should be
scrapped.