E-Toll Debt Suspension Decision Isn't Clear-Cut

E-tolls have created a bitter battle in Gauteng. And Sanral’s unexpected decision to suspend all e-toll debt raises a number of questions, not least of which is whether it is a political ploy by the ANC to keep hold of a key province in the upcoming election.

- Lloyd Gedye

A “sweetener” for voters. That’s how some critics have described the recent move by national roads agency Sanral to suspend debt collection from e-toll dissenters at an urgent board meeting at the end of March.

The decision came just over a month before national elections on 8 May, and some commentators have warned that the suspension could be lifted after the election.

Curiously, finance minister Tito Mboweni is reported to have issued an instruction to Sanral to immediately reverse its decision, which suggests that the decision was taken without consulting with National Treasury.

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), which has led the campaign of e-toll dissent, suggests there is confusion in government on this latest decision. Cosatu, a vocal critic of e-tolls, however, insists that Mboweni has a “tsar complex”.

Until this last-minute decision by the Sanral board, the elections in May had loomed large over the e-tolls debate, with many expecting no real action until after the national poll had passed. There had been much speculation as to whether e-tolls would end up hurting the ANC in Gauteng in the election, with 70% of motorists said to be boycotting the system at present.

In March the Gauteng ANC had weighed in on e-toll contractor Electronic Toll Collection’s (ETC’s) threat to blacklist motorists who have not been paying their e-toll debt, saying it was “an unfortunate act of provocation” and an “ill-calculated move”.

The provincial ANC stated residents of Gauteng have said in “no uncertain terms” that they want nothing to do with the e-tolls in the current form and that there was a resolution at the ANC Gauteng provincial conference that the e-tolls scheme should be “done away with” and that an “alternative solution will have to be found”.