Members of Parliament (MPs) have been plagued by erroneous e-toll billing from the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) and received payment notices while their cars were in Cape Town, the City Press reports.
According to the paper, African National Congress MPs complained to Ruth Bhengu, chairperson of the National Assembly portfolio committee on transport, when unused cars were billed for a period while they were parked in Cape Town in December last year.
The City Press quotes Bhengu, who did not name the MPs, but blamed cloned number plates for the bills.
"E-tolling assisted us to identify that there is a cloning of number plates in SA and there are also false number plates," Bhengu said.
"We did come up with a solution to that. We are looking at a situation where people will produce number plates that will have to be accredited."
Bhengu cited a system in Malawi in which people do not ask for a number plate without verifying they are the owner of that car and that no other vehicle has the same registration.
Transport minister Dipuo Peters ordered Sanral to fix its billing problems, while she conceded to the portfolio committee last Tuesday that the system is experiencing teething problems, the City Press reports.
"My instructions to Sanral are clear and unambiguous. They must sort out billing challenges and they must sort them out now," Peters said.
The paper adds that Democratic Alliance shadow minister of transport Ian Ollis was told off by Peters for not registering for e-tolls, but he insists he was testing the system and the law gave people a choice to buy e-tags.
Share