Protector to 'engage' on e-toll bills

The public protector's office has met the National Consumer Commission to discuss complaints by motorists over the Sanral e-tolls billing system.

A meeting was held between the two institutions yesterday to discuss whether public protector Thuli Madonsela would investigate the allegations brought before her.

"It was agreed that the immediate way forward is to engage Sanral on their current dispute resolution mechanism, in particular making it more efficient," public protector spokesman Oupa Segalwe said.

"It would appear there are more problems with billing of unregistered users of e-tolling. However, there are many registered users of e-tolling who have also complained about their bills."

He said the office had 22 individual complaints on its desk but had been told that the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance had more than 1300.

Segalwe said consumers were encouraged to exhaust Sanral's internal processes before approaching the public protector.

"A decision on the way forward will be made after an engagement by both the public protector and the National Consumer Commission with Sanral regarding the efficiency of their process of dealing with complaints. It is our preferred option that Sanral has an efficient internal complaints handling mechanism," he said.

The public protector is also "assessing" allegations brought forward by Outa that Sanral regarded the Gauteng e-tolling project as a starting point for national e-tolls.

An informant from Kapsch, the Austrian company that designed the e-tolling system, apparently told Outa the systems at the Central Operation Centre in Midrand were designed for a national programme of e-tolling.

In response Segalwe said: "The matter is still being assessed with a view to establishing if there is any merit to the claims and ascertaining jurisdiction.

"Only after this standard process will the public protector be in a position to make a decision on whether or not to investigate."

Meanwhile, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe officially opened Sanral's operations centre yesterday.

The entire Gauteng freeway management system, including e-tolling and traffic management, is operated from the centre, which has 1300 employees.