Did Sanral CEO go rogue on Cape tolls?

Cape Town - If the South African National Roads Agency did not make a decision to declare parts of Cape Town’s highways as toll roads, then its Chief Executive Nazir Alli must have, according to the City.

It said in its heads of arguments that this inference was supported by Alli’s signature on a 2008 declaration notice.

Alli apparently denied making such a decision, according to Sanral's answering papers.

The City concluded that if his denial was to be believed, it meant two things: either no one had actually made such a decision, or the identity of the responsible individuals or body had not been disclosed to the court.

The City’s lawyer, Geoff Budlender, argued on Tuesday why the Western Cape High Court should set aside the decision to toll parts of the N1 and N2.

Budlender said the matter should be sent back to Sanral and the relevant ministers so they could properly consider the socio-economic impact of the project and other relevant, contextual factors.

The City criticised the 2014 board for "rubber-stamping" Alli’s request in a memorandum to correct an omission.

According to a City bundle, Alli stated in the memo that a resolution by the board on the declaration of toll roads had been "inadvertently omitted" and that this now needed to be corrected.

Budlender said the board presumably believed it could make a decision by round robin without any discussion, assuming its predecessors had been kept fully informed about the project when it seemed they had not.

The City was set to resume its arguments on Wednesday, followed by lawyers for Sanral.