Indebted motorists will still pay for e-tolls despite their scrapping

Minister of transport Sindisiwe Chikunga says motorists who still have historical e-toll debt are still obligated to pay.

Chikunga was speaking during a media briefing on the scrapping of e-tolls in Gauteng.

"In terms of the law, the motorists are still obligated to pay. There is an obligation that those who have used the roads up until tomorrow [Thursday] will have to pay. On how we will enforce or not enforce that is a matter we have not discussed, we will be attending to that as time goes on," Chikunga said. 

"There is law [and] we have not repealed it, and on the basis of that, yes people must pay. The old debt, we are still to look into that to say how we are going to deal with it." 

She said from April 12, road users will no longer be charged for the use of the e-toll network. Chikunga said gantries that have been installed for the use of the scheme would be used for other functions such as fighting crime.

Chikunga also admitted that while the e-tolls were implemented after some consultation, the resistance by Gauteng motorists and various stakeholders suggested they could have consulted widely and done things differently.

"I trust that the public realises that the government listens and, where possible, it will act to resolve issues that affect the public. We understand that the resolution of this issue might have taken longer than some people wanted, but it involved complex negotiations which were handled in a mature and professional manner by all concerned.

"I think for the main fact that today we are here, closing the gantries, stopping the e-tolls, it actually means we are not only saying to the people of SA, 'sorry', but we are saying, 'we have heard you'," she said.  

Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi said during negotiations, among the outstanding issues was how they would handle those who had paid and those who failed to do so.

"I have never said we must pay people [who have already paid for e-tolls]; I said it is among the outstanding obstacles in resolving this matter of e-tolls," Lesufi said.   

"The basis of the dispute on e-tolls was either lack or sufficient consultation and therefore the payment or enforcement of debt, we must subject it to consultation so that people must not say we were not consulted. We will consult, it is not an easy thing," he said. 

Meanwhile, Sanral CEO Reginald Demana said Gauteng would be paying R4.1bn for four years for maintenance backlog.

He said the overall maintenance of e-tolls was about R12bn and that after Gauteng's contribution, the balance would come from grants received from the national government.

"I just want to make sure that we are not leaving Gauteng residents thinking they are responsible for all the roads, it is just a contribution of settling this whole issue of e-tolls."

Here is what you need to know: 

• Current valid accounts can still be used for payments at toll plazas and other value-added services (i.e. parking);
• The tag beeps will stop after midnight on April 11;
• The gantry lights and cameras will remain on for road safety purposes;
• The e-toll website will be updated with respect to the cancellation, including mobility/tag account functionality for services, i.e. interoperability and parking, etc.;
• The e-toll stores will remain open as the tag can still be used for interoperability, account queries and other potential transport-related services that will be determined in due course;
• The e-toll branding will be removed in phases; and
• e-toll invoices will be rolled up until the last day and issued up until this period.

chabalalaj@sowetan.co.za