The South African National Roads Agency Limited’s (Sanral) move to work with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to deal with e-toll defaulters has been labelled as “fear mongering”.
The Justice Project SA said the appointment of prosecutors focusing on e-tolls was no surprise.
“Sanral’s e-tolls marketing strategy has always involved a strong element of fear mongering, by threatening people with criminal records and other life-changing consequences for resisting their unjust and unduly expensive system of e-tolling,” the project’s chairperson Howard Dembovsky said in a statement.
“As things stand, there are well over one million people who are going to have to be prosecuted and two prosecutors, operating in the already overburdened South African criminal justice courts system don’t stand any chance of making a significant dent in this figure.”
This follows conflicting comments made by the prosecuting authority regarding the assignment of two senior prosecutors to deal with e-toll defaulters.
On 15 July, EyeWitness News reported that the prosecuting authority confirmed that two prosecutors had been mandated to begin prosecuting offenders in Gauteng.
The news agency reported that the NPA’s spokesperson, Nathi Mncube said two prosecutors had been assigned to handle e-toll cases and “they will take the cases to court as and when they feel ready”.
However, Mncube later said the two prosecutors were merely consulting with the roads agency to establish whether or not Gauteng motorists were breaking the law by refusing to pay for road tolls.
The revelation sparked confusion and calls for clarity on the processes that would follow.
The DA sought clarity from the minister of justice and correctional services and the transport minister to establish the full extent of the assignment of the prosecutors.
The DA planned to submit questions to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Michael Masutha, and the Minister of Transport, Dipuo Peters, said DA Shadow Minister of Transport Manny de Freitas.
“We look forward to this clarification from the respective ministers,” saod De Freitas. “Without it, we risk allowing a perception of an attempt to intimidate motorists into buying into a system they have so overwhelmingly rejected.”
