Outa: Sanral's self-deception is risky

Cape Town - The South African National Roads Agency Limited's (Sanral's) claim that e-tolling in Gauteng is legitimate because nearly a million people have registered for e-tags is disturbing, said Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) spokesperson John Clarke on Monday.

“These comments indicate that the authorities are not seeing the warning signs of a discontented society. Such self-deception risks inviting unintended consequences,” Clarke said in a statement. 

This comes hard on the heels of a comment by the Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) that the government should view recent scares at Sanral's operations centre in Tshwane as a warning. 

FF Plus MP Anton Alberts said: "It is clear that the public is despondent and battered by what they view as unreasonable action by the state."

Three incidents have been reported at Sanral's building in Midrand. The building was evacuated after a bomb threat on Sunday. However, no bomb was found.

“Respect for the law is not something one can command from the people. We do not live in the dark ages where citizens are treated like passive subjects. This is tantamount to a primitive rule by law, rather than a progressive constitutional rule of law,” said Clarke.

“Sanral can try carrots and sticks to force compliance, but e-tolling cannot be sustained by manipulation of emotions. Only willing consent and acceptance by the people will make the system viable.”  

Outa reiterated its conviction that Sanral's claims that the legitimacy of e-tolling has been definitively settled by the courts was untrue.

Said Clarke: "The reality is that Sanral’s failure to engage the public remains to be ruled upon under the Criminal Procedure Act, which will happen when the first person is prosecuted for non-payment."

He said Outa was pleased by Sanral's acknowledgement that the "billing fiasco" was not just "teething problems", but added that CEO Nazir Alli needed "to show leadership by telling us not just what went wrong, but why it went wrong despite having almost three bonus years to perfect it since their planned initial launch date of April 2011".

Clarke reported that Outa continues to receive a mounting number of complaints, which are "clear signs of gross maladministration which has lost whatever residue of the trust Sanral may have had". 

In the light of complaints reflecting charges for transactions prior to the roll-out of e-tolling on December 3, people have every right to refuse to pay until data integrity has been satisfied, maintained Clarke.

 - Fin24