E-toll regulations invalid: JPSA
JOBURG - Motorists may be entitled to claim e-toll refunds due to conflicting amounts indicated on a Government Gazette notice regarding e-toll charges, the Justice Project South Africa said.
According to Justice Project South Africa Chairman, Howard Dembovsky, the discrepancies were in English and Afrikaans versions of the e-toll tariff notices published in the Government Gazette.
“In the process of reviewing the various notices, we found that there are discrepancies between the English and the Afrikaans versions of the tariff notice published on 19th November 2013,” he explained.
Dembovsky added that both of the tariff notices were signed by the department of transport’s acting director general and therefore “have equal but conflicting weight”.
According the Justice Project South Africa’s lawyers, this may render the e-tolling regulations invalid.
“Effectively, the tariffs applicable to registered VLN and ‘alternative users’ differ in the English and Afrikaans versions, and this introduces severe interpretation issues,” Dembovsky said.
Justice Project South Africa has called on the department of transport to repeal the offending Tariff Gazette and asked it to instruct the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) to stop levying and collecting e-tolls until the matter is corrected.
