Share

Sanral loses secrecy bid for Cape tolls

Cape Town - Applications by Sanral and the Protea Parkway Consortium (PPC) to keep certain court documents on the N1/N2 Winelands Toll Highway project secret, were dismissed by the Western Cape High Court on Thursday.

However, Judge Ashley Binns-Ward made certain orders that would effectively keep categories of information under wraps until the court started to review the SA National Roads Agency Limited's (Sanral's) decision to toll the roads. No review date had yet been set.

Sanral had applied to the court to prevent the City of Cape Town from filing its supplementary founding papers in an open court, based on two categories of information.

The first category related to the proposed project's costs, which Sanral argued would cause "unjustified and unnecessary concern among the general public" if released prematurely.

It argued it would result in unjustified antagonism and bias towards Sanral by the general public.

Sanral alleged the city, in its (the city's) supplementary founding papers, was trying to convey, through the use of expert opinions, that the decision to toll was financially untenable.

Sanral asked that the information be kept out of the public domain until it had filed its answering affidavit with its own expert opinions.

Binns-Ward found seeking such relief was unnecessary because all relevant applicants and respondents were bound by the court to use the information only for the review application, and not for a "collateral or ulterior purpose".

This meant the city was not allowed to disseminate or publish the information because it would amount to contempt of court.

The second category of information in the city's supplementary founding papers related to the tender process, which was still outstanding. It included commercial information on the bidders, the debt funding competition, and Sanral's bid evaluation.

Sanral had argued that releasing this before the review hearing "would cause harm and damage to Sanral, bidders in the tender process, the SA fiscus and economy and the general public".

It said the disclosure of such would fall foul of Sanral's statutory obligations.

The court held the applicants had failed to present a factual case that proved this category of information should be seen as confidential, and thus no relief was granted.

However, the court found the public and other bidders would in any way not have unregulated access to the court file before the review hearing.

Here are all the latest news headlines regarding the secrecy bid:

City, Sanral clash over Cape toll tariffs

Cape tolls: What are the costs, asks DA

Cape tolls secrecy relates to tenders

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Rand - Dollar
18.97
-0.2%
Rand - Pound
24.13
-0.1%
Rand - Euro
20.63
-0.2%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.38
+0.3%
Rand - Yen
0.13
+0.4%
Platinum
911.88
-1.3%
Palladium
1,019.74
-4.3%
Gold
2,159.99
-0.0%
Silver
25.11
+0.3%
Brent Crude
86.89
+1.8%
Top 40
66,252
0.0%
All Share
72,431
0.0%
Resource 10
53,317
0.0%
Industrial 25
100,473
0.0%
Financial 15
16,622
0.0%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Company Snapshot
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE
Government tenders

Find public sector tender opportunities in South Africa here.

Government tenders
This portal provides access to information on all tenders made by all public sector organisations in all spheres of government.
Browse tenders