E-toll verdict eagerly awaited

“The case has been heard well and we’ve got a strong case in our hands,” said the party’s Mmusi Maimane speaking at a media briefing discussing the status of its case.

The party took the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) to court, claiming that the bill was incorrectly tagged as a Section 75 Bill.

During a two-day argument in the Western Cape High Court, the party stated that the people of Gauteng should have been given the “absolute voice” on the issue of e-tolling, but were ignored. It said the bill should have been debated in the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces.

“Tolling should have actually been at every provincial legislature because the law as it stands gives Sanral the right to go and toll everywhere else in the country,” he said.

He said e-tolling would raise the cost of living of people in Gauteng and that the Gauteng transport MEC had admitted that his department would have to source an additional R800 million in order to fund the alternative routes.

The party expects a verdict on the matter in the next two weeks.

If the case is successful, the e-tolling bill would need to be sent back to Parliament for deliberation a second time.

The matter would then be referred to the Constitutional Court, and if the party wins the case, the e-tolling bill may be declared unconstitutional.

Like many other anti-e-toll organisations, which have shown blatant civil disobedience, Maimane said he had not purchased an e-tag for his official or personal vehicle and expressed no intention to.

Maimane said he would not pay for e-tolls until the roads agency followed the law by sending him invoices and provided proof that it was his vehicle that was tolled.

During the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, the party’s Jack Bloom ripped up his e-toll invoice.