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- On Wednesday, Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga said motorists would be held liable for payments until the system's official closure on Thursday.
- Questions remain about how government will deal with historical debt.
- Meanwhile, Sanral has said that the gantries would be used to monitor crime and traffic violations going forward.
- For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page.
Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga has said Gauteng motorists will be held liable for paying their e-toll fees until the system's official closure on Thursday.
After its establishment in 2013 as part of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP), e-tolls will officially be scrapped after it was gazetted that segments of the Gauteng roads where e-tolls operate would be stripped of their status as continuous toll roads with electronic toll points.
The midnight closure follows years of debate and frustration about when the system would eventually end. The system had also faced open defiance from motorists and civil society organisations who refused to pay their e-toll fees.
READ | EXPLAINER | The life and death of e-tolls
But motorists are seemingly still legally liable to pay their outstanding fees.
"The obligation [for motorists] to pay remains until midnight on 11 April and the accounts can still be used to pay for e-tolls [...] E-toll invoices will be rolled out until the last day. Motorists will still receive invoices after the shutdown, but no transactions will appear on the invoices," Chikunga said at a briefing on Wednesday.
Chikunga said government was still looking at how it would enforce the payment of the historical debt accumulated by road users.
In addition, South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) CEO Reginald Demana said that with e-toll debt currently at R43 billion, the agency would still collect current outstanding e-tolls.
But, he said, there were still "ongoing discussions" for e-toll debt that had accumulated for a longer period.
Previously, letters of demand had been handed to motorists, while some were even served default judgments in an effort to force them to pay the debt.
Funding for GFIP debt
The eventual closure of the e-toll system comes after multiple postponements of an agreement about financing the GFIP debt.
In 2020, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced during his mid-term budget speech that the system would be scrapped on 31 December 2022. However, the Gauteng government and National Treasury were yet to come to an agreement about how the debt would be funded.
In March, it was announced that Sanral, the Gauteng government and Treasury had finalised an agreement for the debt payment. According to the agreement, the Gauteng government agreed to pay 30% of the GFIP debt (an estimated R12.9 billion), while Treasury was expected to pay 70%.
Earlier this year, the provincial government said it would fund the debt through loans from commercial banks. Six billion rand from the province's budget has been allocated for the loan payment over the next three financial years.
It also agreed to contribute R4 billion over four years towards the maintenance backlog of e-toll infrastructure, with R500 million already allocated for maintenance in this year's budget. This includes money to resurface roads that should have been completed previously.
READ | e-Toll payback: Gauteng plan to use loans, car licences and gambling blasted
Speaking at the briefing, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi said while e-tolls were finally "history" in Gauteng, the loan payment had not yet been secured by the banks. According to Lesufi:
Lesufi also ensured Gauteng residents that loan payments would be made to ensure the debt payment did not impact any money allocated for service delivery. However, revenue mechanisms, including motor vehicle licensing, will also be used to raise money to service debt.
"Basic services will not be impacted by the agreement. We would have loved [for] e-tolls to end a year ago, but we have to be clear that when we signed it, the amount deducted would not create a catastrophe. Our focus [is] on [allocating] money that does not focus on service delivery."
'We have heard you'
Reflecting on the closure, Chikunga said the decision was "not easy", but government had heard the numerous complaints about e-tolls.
"The people said we are not consulted enough [...] We have listened, and this is why we are here today. Closing the gantries and closing the e-tolls is saying, 'We have heard you,'" she said.
Chikunga defended the need for toll road payments, however.
"We have had tolls in South Africa for a long time. People have not been against that. Maybe we need to explain [the concept of e-tolls] more," she said.
Going forward, Sanral engineering executive Louw Kannemeyer said gantries would be repurposed for crime-fighting and traffic-violation purposes.
E-tags will also remain on cars and be used to assist with parking and public transport payments, he said.
