An application to prevent Sanral from implementing the highly contentious system was brought before court by the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) - a group made up of business people who want to halt the implementation of the system.

Outa drew first blood yesterday when Prinsloo ruled that Sanral, National Treasury, the national Department of Transport and the Gauteng department of roads and transport failed to convince him that the matter was not urgent.

Following that decision, the court then heard arguments for and against an interdict lodged by Outa to prevent the system from going ahead.

Prinsloo also said he had not been convinced that Outa's application was an abuse of the court, as was advanced by Sanral and fellow respondents.

Though Prinsloo said he would give a final ruling on the matter today, he said that he could not be persuaded by the defendants that Outa's application was an abuse of the court.

Sanral's lawyer David Unterhalter SC told the court that members of Outa had not opposed the system when the declaration of the tolls was first published in 2008.

However, the judge ruled otherwise, stating that Outa would have gotten ahead of themselves had they raised objections about the system then.

"The finance minister only announced in February during the budget vote speech that the e-tolling would go ahead on April 30," Prinsloo said.

"It is apparent that the fate of e-tolling was uncertain. It would have been premature to oppose it then," Prinsloo said.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said that the government would pledge R5.8-billion towards payment of the R20-billion borrowed for the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Programme.

Outa's legal representative Alistair Franklin SC insisted that opposition to the implementation of e-tolling was urgent, though the parties still had to meet at the review court next week.

He said if the urgent application was not granted, it would mean road users would be subjected to the tolling, while the matter dragged on for months - possibly three months - before reaching conclusion.

Prinsloo is expected to rule on the interdict application today.

Comments

• Sign in or sign up to comment

Wed May 22 19:33:55 SAST 2013 ::

Apr 26, 2012

RobinH

GREAT> But no celebration yet as the actual battle has not been won.
Report Abuse

Apr 26, 2012

Papane

I guess this country is governed by the constitution which was adopted by the people for the people. Contained in it is the aspect of consultation to all stakeholders but i wonder why at some point people just wake up from their laurels and decide to impose unjustified taxes like this e-tolling. Thanks to the judge for having put it on hold for all the correct procedures were not followed. If government is running out of ideas, they must turn this country into African Hollywood and make money out of film production.
Report Abuse

Apr 26, 2012

swona

wish those brakes can hold on tight untill Zuma, the transport minister, nomvhula, Gordhan and all who came with this Eurocentric idea in Africa are no more!
Report Abuse

Apr 26, 2012

sakhomba

one big penis off my ass momentarily,what a relierf.
Report Abuse

Apr 26, 2012

RobinH

Papane: Or a theme park of absurd realities.
Report Abuse

Apr 26, 2012

mambaaai

papane
the people and their roads, all roads should be treated equally :)
competition board to protect the people from extortion
the underlying mechanisms and drivers are just simply wrong
if the money to just pay for the repairs, our governement is supposed to be a "non profit" organisation set up to do stuff for its people in the peoples intersts...to allow our country to function if Gauteng is the economic hub....grease it, lubricate it ,so it can work for the good of the country
Report Abuse

Apr 26, 2012

tpaz

The write of this article is deluded. The Urgency application is what won. The court has still to hear deliberations about argument against etolls before 30 April. We can still lose.

@RobinH, you right.
Report Abuse

Apr 26, 2012

itsme4sure

this is far from over.....no matter what the outcome...i am not buying an e-tag and wil not register for this sh!t....heard that cosatu all of a sudden will no longer go ahead with the strike on 30 April.....
Report Abuse

Apr 26, 2012

TheDictator

We won the first leg comrades,lets see what comes out today.I hope Sanral does not equalize.
Report Abuse

Apr 26, 2012

nghunghunyane

this country is run like cirque do soleil or should i say Boswell circus

This etolling idea was stolen in the UK, it wont apply here....those people are rich because of us. ntlx

there is no better alternative to using the highway, Gautrain aint exactly cheap, Business Express isnt reliable, because cables get stolen everyday day a one hour trip becomes a 3 hr one without apologies, taxis, lets not go there because the very same Sbu Ndebele cant regulate it, but what do we expect, these people are his cousins from KZN, mxm.....Busses, this could work provided they have dedicated lanes,im talking about metrobusses and tshwane metro busses between pta and jhb, lets not even look at the direction of PUTCO if we value our lives,
Report Abuse

Read all 29 comments