Hell, no, we won't pay

So, the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) is owed a whopping R1 billion and then some in unpaid e-tolls. This is proof positive - argue detractors of the controversial e-tolling system - that no one wants to pay for the privilege of using roads that became 25% more congested when an additional lane was added.

At face value, I would concur. Dinner table conversations often migrate to this topic, with statements being made like "there's no way I'll pay" and "I didn't ask for it, just like the president didn't ask for Nkandla". The opposition to paying has reached such epic proportions that those who are paying almost feel a bit...shammed and guilty.

People I know, whose names will not be revealed because I'm no tell-tale, owe thousands to Sanral, and have no intention of paying that amount, ever. One chap owes at least R6 000, an amount that has been accumulating since e-tolling went live on 3 December.

These people all fall into the numbers that were recently released thanks to a Parliamentary reply to DA shadow minister of transport, Manny de Freitas, by transport minister Dipuo Peters. The base numbers show R995.4 million has been owed for three months or less, while R156.6 million has been owed for more than 90 days.

What this tells me, on the face of it, is that people are paying their accounts well after three months have passed. A proper age analysis would be needed before that conclusion can be backed up. Yet, it does seem that what is owed to Sanral drops substantially after three months.

I suppose there are many reasons for this, including the South African habit of leaving everything to the last minute. It could also be that invoices are going to the wrong address, simply never arrive, or just don't make sense.

My invoices, for example, get cheaper each month. This is way cool because, at this rate, Sanral will pay me to drive on the electronic highways. I'm mystified as to how this is even vaguely possible, especially as I have not paid a cent in bills, simply because I do not understand how the invoices work.

Granted, there's an 'owed' line at the bottom, but what complicates matters is that I have also received e-mails saying my account balance is low, which I don't understand as I've never put any money into it. So, how can I owe money, and have a positive balance?

I suspect Sanral doesn't know what is going on with its invoices either. Peters has told it to hold off on prosecuting people for non-payment, and extended payment periods, in a bid to get people to pay up - and give the agency enough time to sort out its books.

Looking at the most recent numbers, and making some elementary calculations, it seems Sanral's debt grows at R331 million a month, before a large portion is paid. Back in April, the agency had handed over R543.5 million for collection, of which only R50 million had been recovered by the Violations Processing Centre (VPC).

The opposition to paying has reached such epic proportions that those who are paying almost feel a bit...shammed and guilty.

Sanral was owed a total of R702.2 million at the end of February, as only R250.8 million was paid against issued invoices of R953 million. Of the amount due, R543.5 million was handed over to the VPC for collection.

Some R543.5 million worth of invoices were transferred to the VPC on 1 March, Peters said. At the time, ITWeb calculated Sanral was still carrying R158.7 million on its books, which would be the amount that falls into the seven-day grace period. Extrapolating this over 52 weeks in a year, ITWeb projected Sanral is likely to issue invoices worth a total of about R8 billion by year-end.

And, with a 35% compliance rate, it was set to be owed several billions. The problem is: are those invoices even accurate? Peters told De Freitas the amount due did not take the discount into account. Really? There are accounting systems available - for free download - that will sort out that problem.

Sanral has said it is working on fixing its system, but so far there is no news as to how many invoices are horrendously wrong, or how far along it is. Another pal, who drives the same way to work every day, is charged differently, for no apparent reason. I don't think Sanral can explain the charges, let alone reconcile them.

So, like many other Gautengers, I am not paying a single red penny until Sanral proves I owe what they say I do, and the onus is on them, not me, to prove it, as far as I am concerned. Based on the fraction of people who have accounts - 1.13 million - compared to the number of cars on the highways - last estimated at around four million - I'm not alone in shunning electronic tolls.