E-tolls issues require action – Outa
JOBURG - Organisations opposed to Gauteng’s e-tolling have slammed the South African National Roads Agency’s (Sanral) and department authority’s admission to glitches in the system as insufficient.
Following the road agency’s presentation to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport on the status of e-tolling, the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) said it should have considered the potential issues before launching the system.
The alliance’s spokesperson, John Clarke said the roads agency failed to listen to the warnings and concerns of the public, or his organisation prior to the commencement of e-tolling on 3 December.
Clarke believed that following the alliance’s failed legal action against the agency it had become complacent on the basis that it had the legal stance to make e-tolling work.
DA shadow transport minister Ian Ollis, who was present at the meeting, said Transport Minister, Dipuo Peters finally “confessed” to massive problems relating to the e-toll billing system.
“The minister not only admits to inaccuracies in the South African National Road Agency’s e-toll database but also admits to the prevalence of cloned and duplicate number plates hampering the implementation of the system.”
However, Ollis said despite this acknowledgement, there were still no plans to resolve problems relating to e-tolls.
“It seems, as usual, the minister remains adamant to continue with this disastrous project – which South Africans neither want nor can afford.”
Prior to the meeting on 18 February, the road agency spokesperson, Vusi Mona said it looked forward to the opportunity to explain “what went wrong with e-tolling, but also what went right”.
He added there were problems with the system but that these were to be expected considering the high number of users.
However, Clarke said the roads agency had downplayed the purpose of the meeting and the severity of its e-tolling problems.
The roads agency offered too many excuses and not enough action, Clarke said, adding that the alliance had, as a result, called on the minister to investigate the system’s irregularities.
“It is not enough for the minister to scold Sanral; she must enquire further and demand solutions.”
He added that after the roads agency’s system had been hacked in January, it had not notified the public or those whose accounts were compromised, nor did it offer an apology for the security breach. Sanral did not respond to questions regarding the security breach.
However, it is believed that the apparent security breach and the road agency’s failure to address it could prove to be a deterrent to motorists who were willing to register for e-tolling – fearing that they could become victims of further potential cyber-attacks.
According to reports, a hacker admitted to accessing the private information of account holders registered on the roads agency’s system by knowing or guessing an e-toll user’s account name.
