1.4 million e-tags remain unsold: minister

The SA National Roads Agency Ltd (Sanral) is sitting with over 1.4 million unsold e-tags, according to Transport Minister Dipuo Peters.

"Sanral procured 2,107,000 e-tags over the past three years; [a total of] 1,427,900 have not been allocated," she said in a written reply to a parliamentary question.

The figures imply 679,100 e-tags have been sold.

Six weeks ago, Sanral CEO Nazir Ali said 600,000 e-toll tags were in circulation.

In September, President Jacob Zuma signed into law the Transport Laws and Related Matters Amendment Bill, giving Sanral the nod to start e-tolling on Gauteng's freeways.

In her reply, Peters said Sanral had spent about R25.3 million during the period January to October this year on campaigns to encourage the public to buy e-tags.

This was in addition to about R11.3m spent in November and December last year.