DA, Sanral lock horns

SA's opposition party says Gauteng would see no e-tolls being implemented on its watch.

---

Government's roads agency and opposition party have once again locked horns over the controversial issue of e-tolls in Gauteng.

While the Democratic Alliance (DA) continues to intensify its campaign against e-tolls as the elections edge closer, the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) has grown weary of what it says is hypocrisy and politicking.

The DA has again vowed to have e-tolling scrapped if it is elected to govern Gauteng next year, while Sanral says it is no longer interested in "the politicking".

Ian Ollis, DA shadow minister of transport, says the opposition party is campaigning to govern Gauteng in 2014 in a bid to interdict Sanral's plans to toll highways - as it did recently in the Western Cape.

"In the DA-led Western Cape we have successfully interdicted Sanral's plans to toll highways in the province. This is a fight we are prepared to take to the Constitutional Court if we have to.

"In order to do the same in Gauteng, the DA is campaigning to govern the province in 2014. A DA victory would result in the scrapping of e-tolling. Until then, we will continue to fight e-tolling using every avenue possible."

In its latest strike, the DA has hit out against Sanral for its hefty expenditure on what the party says amounts to e-toll propaganda.

According to a reply to the DA from transport minister Dipuo Peters: "Sanral has budgeted R85 million for advertising related to the e-toll system in Gauteng, which will be spent on both alternative sources of funding campaigns as well as corporate campaigns."

It was also revealed that the advertising spend by Sanral on the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project, for the 2013/2014 financial year, is R23 257 909.

This follows a previous reply to a DA parliamentary question that indicated Sanral's spending on advertising had increased by almost 200%.

Ollis says the state-owned road agency's "stubborn determination" to continue with e-toll marketing campaigns is a "disgrace". He says Sanral's marketing efforts will not sway the public, which he says has made its opposition to the project clear. "No amount of spin will change this."

Sanral spokesperson Vusi Mona responded to what he says boils down to hypocrisy, saying: "It would seem the DA cannot read and understand, and we have become accustomed to that."

Mona says the DA was given the facts following a Parliamentary question the party submitted to the transport minister a few weeks ago.

He says it is important to note that Sanral's toll portfolio spans more than the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project, which is only 201km. "Sanral has a toll portfolio of 1 832km and has a responsibility to promote and communicate on its alternative sources of funding (the selective use of tolling to build road infrastructure)."

Sanral's position, he says, has always been that the advertising spend is proportional to the entity's communications objective. "Any new initiative such as e-tolling will accrue an increased advertising spend as it must be supported through marketing. It is Sanral's responsibility to educate road users on how to become compliant. It is also very much part of driving public awareness.

"One can only imagine the criticism had Sanral not communicated essential information such as how and where to obtain e-tags. It is important to note that the vast majority of e-toll-related advertising related to educating the public on details on how and where to obtain e-tags, registering, e-toll tariffs, etc."

Meanwhile, the DA awaits the missing pieces from e-toll documentation it received from Sanral after a June application under the Promotion of Access to Information Act.

Sanral's documentation on e-tolling in Gauteng - 5 848 pages of agreements pertaining to e-toll contracts - was delivered to the DA over the weekend, minus three chunks; one relating to the funding of e-tolls and the other two to a tender submission.

Ollis says the party is "carefully scrutinising" the documents in the hope that they will provide answers on how the e-toll system can be scrapped.

"E-tolling will serve no benefit to the people of the province, and will hit the poorest the hardest by increasing the price of doing business, resulting in food price increases and inevitably undermining economic growth and job creation."

The DA yesterday sent a letter to Sanral, giving the agency four days to get the missing pieces of documentation to the party.