To tag or not to tag?

This is according to the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance’s (Outa) Wayne Duvenage, who recently addressed the Rotary Club of Benoni Aurora at the Ebotse Links Country Club.

After doing extensive research into the matter, Duvenage said he and the other co-founders of Outa, opposed the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) in court, back in 2012.

Duvenage said years of legal to and fro followed, but in the end, Sanral was allowed to continue with the project.

According to Duvenage’s research, the e-tolling system in South Africa is inefficient and he believes it won’t succeed in the long run.

He referenced examples of tolling in other parts of the world, saying that it usually only succeeds if the public are fully informed from the beginning and mostly support the tolling project, which is not the case in South Africa.

Duvenage said construction on the e-toll gantries began in 2011, without the public knowing about it and that only a small portion of all South African motorists currently have e-tags.

He said the inefficiency of the project served to fill the pockets of the contractors and government officials who had initiated it.

To bring about more public participation in the e-toll process, deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa announced the new dispensation in May.

In line with the new dispensation, all e-toll fees in arrears would be discounted by 60 percent and motorists would soon not be able to renew their car licence disks without an e-tag.

According to Vusi Mona, general communications manager at Sanral, both these policies have not yet been implemented.

“You will be able to renew the licence, but the licence disk will not be handed over,” he said.

Duvenage recommended that members of the public insist on receiving their licence disks because according to him it cannot be lawfully withheld.