New "E-toll Bill" has serious flaws
The Transport Laws and Related Matters Amendment Bill or "E-toll Bill" assented to by Cabinet on 2 August 2012 has serious flaws.
The DA has serious reservations about the content of this bill and its likely efficacy and will ask for changes in three key areas when the bill is tabled in Parliament in the third term of 2012.
1. The "E-toll Bill" omits a clause which the Transport Portfolio Committee had inserted into the National Road Traffic Act and Regulations (Chapter XIII, clause 6).
This clause clearly states that, before the Minister makes any regulation, he must first provide a draft of the proposed regulations, to be referred to Parliament for comment. In the new "E-Toll Bill," there is no such requirement. This Bill will therefore give the Minister, in conjunction with Sanral, carte blanche when it comes to imposing and gazetting new tariffs, creating new methods for collecting fees and prosecuting non-payers, without any political oversight.
I will be calling on Parliament to insert a similar clause and amend the "E-toll Act" to fall in line with the National Road Traffic Act and Regulations, requiring the minister to also refer regulations under the "E-toll Act" to Parliament for comment, before they are promulgated via the Government Gazette.
2. The "E-toll Bill" has too many presumptions.
Section 59a (4) holds that: "Wherein any prosecution in terms of this Act it is alleged that an offense was committed on a toll road, the road concerned shall, in absence of evidence to the contrary, be presumed to be a toll road." This places too much of the burden of proof - for a range of possible offences - on the motorist being prosecuted for alleged offences. This was never required for conventional toll roads in South Africa, why should this be required for the E-toll?
3. The Bill provides that the National Credit Act (2005) provisions not be applicable to the levying or collecting of tolls in terms of the act.
The key problem with this Amendment is that there is no requirement for Sanral or the Department of Transport to publish all the applicable levies on the billboards and marketing materials of the E-toll road system. Without the full list of levies being published on billboards, and in the absence of the protection of the National Credit Act, the "out of town" motorist who may occasionally use the Gauteng freeways, will not be aware how much he or she is paying to drive on the toll road. In the absence of boom gates where inquiries can be made, this will mean that the user will have no clue as to the costs involved in his/ her use of the road.
In the test phase, Sanral only published the lowest tariffs applicable to E-Tag subscribers on their billboards in Gauteng and not to the remainder of the tariffs which are exorbitant since the Minister tabled the most recent revised pricing structure. There is therefore no practical way for the motorist who does not have an E-tag to be informed of the increased pricing that they will be liable for, without a study of the government gazette.
Taken together, these problematic clauses mean that the Minister may promulgate regulations, including pricing, without any political oversight. It is also unclear as to how the public will be informed about pricing levies and changes, as well as what protection they might enjoy from the National Credit Act after this Bill is passed.
This is unacceptable and the DA will call for appropriate amendments when this Bill comes before Parliament in the third term.
Statement issued by Ian Ollis MP, DA Shadow Minister of Transport, August 28 2012
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