Motorists who refuse to pay e-tolls face jail time and fines

This was according to the Justice Project South Africa chairperson, Howard Dembovsky who was referencing the Sanral Act during his presentation on the impact of e-tolling to the e-toll advisory panel.

According to the act, refusal or failure to pay a toll is punishable on conviction with imprisonment for a period no longer than six months or a fine or both, and is further subject to a civil penalty of R1 000, which may be increased each year.

Dembovsky said according to Sanral, 1.2 million road users had registered for e-tolling by 28 February, but only 700 000 registered users were paying, while 500 000 were not.

“If e-tolling is not scrapped and replaced with a better system of revenue collection, then it is arguable that a significantly large quantum of people are going to have to be successfully prosecuted by the [National Prosecuting Authority] on behalf of Sanral,” Dembovsky said.

“Essentially, what is currently looming is a situation where a high volume of people will have to be prosecuted… due to their refusal and/or inability to pay and this will lead to the creation of at least hundreds of thousands, if not more, artificial criminals in Gauteng,” Dembovsky said.

However, Dembovsky said this would have a knock-on effect of creating real criminals, some of whom may even turn to violent crimes when they were denied employment opportunities after being left with a criminal record.

Dembovsky presented the panel with three case studies to show the impact tolls would have on people who had not paid tolls or bought e-tags.

As a result, the economy of Gauteng and South Africa as a whole would suffer irreparable harm, he warned.

He described e-tolling as a looming socio-economic disaster.

“It is our assertion that Gauteng, and government in general should scrap this irrational and grossly inefficient system of e-tolling and replace it with the tried and tested, inexpensive and easy to administer fuel levy.”