Tensions are running high today as government's controversial open road tolling project is set to go live across Gauteng in less than 24 hours, about 18 months overdue according to the state's initial projections.
This, amid a sea of objections by various groups and civil society; and legal challenges ? including an eleventh-hour court case elicited by the Freedom Front Plus (FF+), set to take place in the North Gauteng High Court this morning.
But while the FF+ is hopeful the court will see fit to halt e-tolling, the Department of Transport (DOT) and SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) are urging motorists to "use the remaining hours" to get tagged and register for e-tolling.
The FF+ maintains the Transport Laws and Related Matters Amendment Bill (the E-toll Bill) is unconstitutional and should be sent back to Parliament before Sanral can even deign to commence with e-tolling - a stance it believes is strong enough to stop e-tolling at the last minute.
The party expects the court to issue a ruling today, or at least an interim interdict that will halt e-tolls until such time the judge is able to decide which way the gavel will go.
Apart from what the FF+ deems to be the questionable constitutionality of the E-toll Bill, the party's transport spokesperson Anton Alberts says the state also erred in terms of the commencement date it set.
"The state has made critical technical errors with the announcement of the implementation date of the e-toll."
DOT spokesperson Tiyani Rikhotso recently pointed out that the department and Sanral were obliged by law to wait 14 days after the official announcement around the project's go-live date before actually flipping the switch to on.
Alberts says this in effect means the system should only go live on Wednesday (4 December). Transport minister Dipuo Peters announced the commencement date on 20 November, at the time calculating the 14-day period to end tomorrow.
Barring any court intervention, e-tolls will go live from one minute past midnight - technically the very dawn of Tuesday.
Sanral spokesperson Vusi Mona says, from an IT perspective, the project is "all systems go". The roads agency - and its e-toll associate the DOT - are confident of their position, saying they have followed due process to reach the ripe stage the system is now at.
E-tag rush
Transport minister Dipuo Peters has downplayed views that the majority of road users are anti government's e-toll project - devised years ago to fund the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project - and says she is encouraged by reports of long queues at e-toll outlets yesterday.
"In the midst of anti-tolling campaigns, motorists have still gone out in their numbers to prove that they are law-abiding citizens."
Sanral indicates that in excess of 735 000 e-tags have been sold to date - a number it says increased by over 21 000 since Peters announced the go-live date on 20 November.
While there has been controversy around the e-tag figures Sanral has cited, Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) chairman Wayne Duvenage says even if they are accurate, the fraction does not bode well for the state's roads agency.
According to Duvenage, there are about 3.5 million to 4 million registered vehicles in Gauteng, 2.5 million of which use the freeways that host Sanral's 45 gantries, and one million of which use them regularly.
Given these figures, he says, the 21 000 figure Sanral gives means that only about 1% of Gauteng's freeway users have registered in the two weeks since Peters pinned a final date.
"Sanral is talking it up, but you tell me if that [1%] rise in e-tag sales is an endorsement. Even if you double the uptake to over 40 000 it means only 2% of motorists that use the freeways are tagged."
Duvenage believes the majority of individuals that have gone out and bought e-tags over the past 14-odd days, have done so under duress or out of fear for what might happen if they do not.
He says, given the recent confusion around Sanral's enforcement process, many have opted to rather be safe than sorry, lest they end up blacklisted or incarcerated.
Mona maintains, however, that SA is historically a rational, law-abiding nation - a trait he believes will prevail at the end of the day.
Plus, says Peters, it is in motorists' best interests to get tagged. "This will enable you to gain access to discounts offered to tag holders by Sanral."
She says she is aware of campaigns discouraging people from registering and encourages motorists to pay no mind to these.
Ready to roll
Meanwhile, as the FF+ and Democratic Alliance - both of which have launched legal challenges against the E-toll Bill based on the same premise - fight e-tolls to the bitter end, legally defeated Outa has pulled out of the courtroom, vowing to continue the fight on the ground.
Regardless of which way today's court case goes, says Duvenage, the alliance is preparing for the eventuality of civilians being taken to task for failure to pay the new road tax. "We will launch a funding campaign for us to protect the rights of those who are taken to court over non-payment of e-tolls."
Given the protracted - and fruitless - battle Outa has already gone through, Duvenage says he is not so sure the courts have the appetite to take the government head on, even though "the FF+ challenge definitely has solid grounds".
Rikhotso says the DOT cannot pre-empt what will happen in court today, but as it stands e-tolling is ready to roll as soon as the clock strikes midnight. "Suffice it to say we are going ahead with the process with the knowledge that we have done everything according to the book."