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E-toll case a ploy, says Peters' counsel

Pretoria - A court application by the FF Plus is a deliberate ploy to delay e-tolling, legal counsel for Transport Minister Dipuo Peters said in the High Court in Pretoria on Monday.

"The creation of a vehicle for litigation... shows a deliberate strategy to get us to court," her lawyer Jeremy Gauntlett said.

"This is a deliberate strategy to delay it... What makes you so special?"

Gauntlett told the court the SA National Roads Agency Limited needed R270m a month to repay its debt.

"Every R270m not raised has to come from somewhere," he said.

Counsel for the Freedom Front Plus denied claims that the party's application to try and stop the implementation of e-tolling on Tuesday was political grandstanding.

"There is no political grandstanding of any nature in this case."

The party's counsel argued there would be irreparable harm to motorists if the e-toll regulations were not declared invalid.

"Motorists will be prejudiced... If tolling commences, it will mean the members of the public will be criminally prosecuted... and have judgments taken against them," the counsel argued.

The court heard there were a lot of affidavits to go through, and a special judge should have been requested. The party's counsel argued that if the application was delayed, it would cause harm.

The FF Plus's legal team said it would be easier to delay e-tolling for two or three weeks, so that all the papers could be properly examined.

Peters announced on November 20 that e-tolling of Gauteng's highways would start on Tuesday.


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