AfriForum joins e-toll battle

18 April 2012 - 02:23 By SIPHO MASOMBUKA
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An e-toll gantry. File photo.
An e-toll gantry. File photo.
Image: Simon Mathebula

The SA National Roads Agency's tariffs for motorists not registered for e-tolling have come under heavy criticism, with AfriForum intending to make an urgent application to a court opposing the "punitive tariffs".

The lobby group said it has instructed its legal team to oppose Sanral's decision to levy a tariff of R1.75/km on motorists who are not e-toll-compliant. The tariff is 30c/km for e-toll-registered motorists.

The DA and Freedom Front Plus have asked Consumer Commissioner Mamodupi Mohlala to intervene, saying the "punitive tariffs" were illegal and amounted to desperate tactics to force motorists to register for e-tolling.

The Department of Transport published the Gauteng e-tolls in the Government Gazette on Friday.

AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel said Sanral was abusing the "punitive tariffs" to entrench the e-toll system's dominance and its non-competitive position.

Kriel said the Competition Act stated that no company was allowed to abuse its position of dominance to impose excessive charges.

He urged road users not to submit to Sanral's "intimidation tactics", and asked the public to "wait for the outcome of the proposed legal action of AfriForum and other groups before deciding whether to register for e-tolling".

Kriel said AfriForum had decided not to register its vehicles, adding that "if enough motorists do not register in protest against the system, it will force Sanral to reconsider e-tolling as a non-cost-effective collection mechanism".

The DA's Gauteng transport spokesman, Neil Campbell, said the party had filed a supplementary complaint about the tolls. The DA previously lodged a complaint against Sanral's e-tolling terms and conditions.

"Sanral is not giving consumers a choice as provided for by the Consumer Protection Act," Campbell said.

Freedom Front Plus spokesman Anton Alberts said yesterday that his party had asked the Consumer Commissioner to stop the implementation of the "punitive tariffs".

"There is no rationale behind the harsh punishment of unregistered road users and this is why we say these punitive tariffs are discriminatory.

"This amounts to forcing consumers to take up a product they do not want and the Consumer Protection Act provides for adjudicating on unreasonably high prices and marketing that forces consumers to take a product," he said.

Automobile Association spokesman Gary Ronald said the standard tariffs were sufficiently high and the tariffs for non-registered motorists were indeed "penalising" and " harsh".

"It is a tactic to force people to register, and waiting until the 11th hour to make the tariffs public was clearly designed to keep the public in the dark as to the actual cost.

"By doing this, motorists are prejudiced in terms of consumer rights."

Transport Department spokes-man Tiyani Rikhotso could not be reached for comment. Sanral did not respond to questions.

Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven said the union federation had made an undertaking not to make public the full report on e-tolling given to it by Sanral.

He said the federation was studying the document and "we will make public what we believe is in the public interest".

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