Johannesburg - The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance
(Outa) would decide on Friday whether to appeal a High Court decision to
dismiss an application to scrap e-tolling on Gauteng freeways.
"We have studied the judgment and will meet with our
legal team tomorrow to discuss what route we are going to take," Outa
chairperson Wayne Duvenhage said on Thursday.
"We believe there are reasonably strong reasons to
appeal."
On December 13, the High Court in Pretoria dismissed a claim
by Outa that the SA National Roads Agency Limited had a deliberate strategy to
keep the public in the dark and that public participation was not adequately
done.
The court dismissed the application and ordered Outa to pay the
legal costs involved in the application.
Duvenhage said Outa would decide on whether to appeal the
costs, the judgment or both, on Friday afternoon.
Outa applied to have e-tolls scrapped and said the method
proposed to collect money from motorists was too expensive.
At the time, the Automobile Association of SA, the Congress
of SA Trade Unions, the Freedom Front Plus, the Democratic Alliance and the
Justice Project SA all expressed their disappointment with the court ruling.
In September, the Constitutional Court overturned an interim
order putting the Gauteng e-tolling project on hold.
The Constitutional Court found the High Court in Pretoria
had not considered the separation of powers between the high court and the
executive on April 28.
On April 28, the high court granted the interdict to Outa,
ruling that a full review needed to be carried out before e-tolling could be
implemented.
The interdict prevented Sanral from levying or collecting
tolls pending the review's outcome.
The minister of transport would make an announcement on when
e-tolls would be implemented.
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