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Johannesburg - The details of the electronic toll collection
contract (ETC) should not be kept confidential, the Opposition to Urban Tolling
Alliance (Outa) said on Monday.
"It shouldn't be confidential. It is taxpayers' money
that is being used to pay the tolls so the taxpayer should know what the money
is being used for," said Outa chairperson Wayne Duvenage.
But there was nothing he could do about it, after Outa
agreed to sign a confidentiality agreement, said Duvenage.
He said that was the only way Outa would have been able to
get access to the ETC contract to prepare for its court case.
Duvenage was responding to a report in The Star newspaper on
Monday that parts of the high court review of the project in November could be
held in camera because of the confidentiality agreement.
This meant that taxpayers may never know the full
agreements, pricing and subcontracts surrounding e-tolling.
Last month, the Constitutional Court overturned an interim
order which had put a hold on the Gauteng e-tolling project.
During the case, the legal team representing the SA National
Roads Agency (Sanral) had made selective references to the ETC contract which
Outa had not seen.
"Now imagine a court case for them to use the contract
even though we had not seen it," said Duvenage.
"We needed to see them...so we were asked to sign a
confidentiality agreement to see it."
The Constitutional Court found that the High Court in
Pretoria had not considered the separation of powers between the high court and
executive.
In April, the High Court granted Outa the interdict, ruling that a full review needed to be carried out before electronic tolling could be put into effect.
The interdict prevented Sanral from levying or collecting
e-tolls pending the outcome of the review.
Sanral and National Treasury appealed against the court
order, and said delays prevented the payment of the R21bn incurred in building
gantries.
The review was expected take place in the High Court in Pretoria on November 26.
