The mystery of the disappearing e-toll debts

Outa claims that e-toll accounts are being randomly written off.

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse‚ (formerly the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance) said on Tuesday that hundreds of members of the public told the organisation that their outstanding e-toll balances had been wiped out.

“At first‚ we received a few messages from our members‚ who had sizable outstanding e-toll bills erased. These ranged between R20‚000 and R30‚000‚ whereby statements at the end of 2015 had been reduced to a few rands‚” said Rob Hutchinson‚ Outa’s communications director.

“We then asked these members of the public to send us copies of their invoices which depicted these windfall reductions to their e-toll accounts. Sure enough‚ their sizable outstanding balances had mysteriously been wiped clean.”

Outa chairman Wayne Duvenage said: “Judging by the hundreds of responses we received from our sample size‚ we estimate that several thousands of road users have received a collective credit of millions of rands in e-toll debt‚ either deliberately or by accident. Either way‚ this depicts another problem and example of the schemes unworkability.”

But some have not been so lucky‚ instead finding their balances larger than they should be.

“Outa has received increasing input from members of the public who have diligently been paying their e-tolls but who have of late received SMSs and erroneous messages of outstanding invoices totalling several thousands of Rands‚ even though in their opinion and records‚ they have no outstanding balances with SANRAL.”