Gauteng motorists will either be up in arms or breathing a sigh of relief tomorrow morning, when the judge presiding over the judicial review on e-tolling delivers his judgement in the High Court.
News of a decision comes just shy of two weeks after the court case between the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) and the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) wrapped up in November - and about a week earlier than anticipated. The two entities argued their cases for and against open road tolling for Gauteng, with Outa accusing government-owned Sanral of not conducting meaningful consultations with the public, and Sanral arguing that the public stood mutely by for months, despite knowing what government's plans were.
Outa chairperson Wayne Duvenage says judge Louis Vorster's clerk informed him yesterday that Vorster had finalised his judgement "sooner than expected" and that he would hand it down tomorrow at 10am.
What the premature judgement means, says Duvenage, is anyone's guess - but Outa remains "cautiously optimistic" that the ruling will be in favour of the public majority that is opposed to e-tolling.
Society wins?
Duvenage says - whichever way the judgement may swing - he feels strongly that either way, society will win.
"Society is now empowered and if e-tolling is allowed to proceed, it will ultimately fail with no buy-in and support from the public. And it's not because the public wants to be disobedient and spurn the law - but you will find that people do break the law, because they can get away with it in SA. This is why only 25% of people pay their traffic fines."
At the end of the day, Duvenage says, a law is only as good as it is governable and implementable - "which e-tolling is not, on either count".
The "empowered" public has made their voice heard and government would ignore it at its own peril, he says. "The issues the public has with the project - its high cost, inefficiency and [stakeholders'] lack of transparency - are not going to go away."
According to government, it received 11 000 written submissions on the issue of e-tolls and e-toll tariffs, the majority of which Duvenage says are anti-tolling in standpoint.
"There is a scathing rejection of e-tolling and the public has sent a very clear message to government: 'We will not participate'."
The sentiment has been so strong as to bring up threats of anarchy and large-scale civil disobedience.
Duvenage says he is confident the public will not allow e-tolling. "And that is Sanral's biggest hurdle - not the court case."
Outcome scenario
Sanral has indicated it will appeal the court's ruling should judgement be passed against the implementation of e-tolls.
Duvenage hopes judgement goes Outa's way, but if not the alliance has done its job and the public has had the opportunity to voice its concerns and engage with stakeholders. An invested public will not allow the system to work in the long run, he says.
The parties have prepared responses apt for either side the gavel could land. Duvenage says, if the ruling is against the implementation of e-tolls, a press briefing will follow at 12:30 tomorrow. "If not, we will just read our response out in court, and take it from there."
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