The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) says it has no intention to mislead the public and takes accusations that it is dishonest around e-tag figures very seriously.
This comes after an Advertising Standards Authority of SA (ASA) ruling late last week forced the government roads agency to stop flighting two adverts that claimed significant e-tag uptake (up to 1.2 million) and positioned gantry cameras as having the added benefit of acting as a security mechanism for motorists.
Sanral says it has noted the ASA rulings and the ad campaigns would no longer run. The agency's spokesperson, Vusi Mona, says the organisation is acutely aware of the scrutiny its advertising is exposed to. "[Because of this] we continuously strive to provide information which we believe is truthful and accurate."
Misunderstood
Sanral took the opportunity to set the record straight from its side around the ongoing controversy around e-tag sales figures, noting these remain unaudited.
The agency says the media has in the past sensationalised the issue of e-tag sales and that, due to media queries being posed using different terminology, "some misunderstanding might have arisen".
According to Sanral, when it talks "e-tag sales", this does not refer to registrations. "It merely refers to e-tags being sold, which might or might not include the tags 'sold' by the key account-holders, and/or e-tag sales at retail outlets."
Sanral defines "key account-holders" as banks and vehicle rental companies (for example) that have direct electronic integration to the e-toll system, that obtain e-tags from Sanral, and distribute tags to their vehicles or clients, that they then register on their own system and then upload the details in bulk onto the e-toll system.
The second term that is stirring confusion and media hype, according to Sanral, is "registrations". Mona says this word does not just refer to vehicles fitted with e-tags. "It can be any vehicle that is registered as an e-toll account, with or without an e-tag, and might or might not include exempt vehicles."
Lastly, "e-tags taken up" refers to e-tags registered on the e-toll system, says Sanral, and this might or might not include e-tags taken up by key account-holders, registered on the system, but not necessarily registered on the e-toll system, and might or might not include e-tags 'sold' at the retailers; again that might not be linked to a vehicle or registered on the e-toll system.
Sanral adds there are a number of factors that influence the figures, like feedback from key account-holders and retailers, the selling of vehicles and the re-allocation of e-tags to new vehicles, the registration of vehicles on the key account-holder systems, the selling of tags by retailers (but the non-linking of the e-tags to vehicles), the closing and re-opening of accounts, using the same or different e-tags, and the registration of exempt vehicles.
Sanral says if it was to advertise substantiated figures ? as recently ordered by the ASA - the agency would have to audit all figures it releases. "However, e-tag figures will need to include auditing third-parties' processes that do not fall within Sanral," it argues.
The agency says the ASA's demand for the figures to be audited means Sanral can only release these once a year, after the auditor-general's inspection.
The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) has been crying foul over Sanral's trumpeted sales figures for months now, yesterday accusing the roads agency of exaggeration, misleading the public and abusing its authority.
The ASA posts details around recent rulings on an ongoing basis and the ones on Sanral should be available during the week. In the meantime, the ruling in question is available on Outa's Web site.
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