The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) has called for an independently audited inspection of the e-toll system, following the SA National Roads Agency's (Sanral's) latest e-tag sales claim.
This comes after Sanral's Tuesday presentation to Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Transport, in which the state-owned roads agency painted an optimistic picture of e-tag uptake and widespread compliance.
Sanral said the total number of e-tags taken up to date is approximately 1.2 million, with over 500 000 individual vehicles registered since e-tolling commenced on 3 December and between 30 000 and 45 000 registrations taking place on a weekly basis. Over 100 000 users so far registered an e-toll account via the e-toll Web site, according to the agency.
Outa has been at loggerheads with Sanral over the issue of e-tag sales for months now. The anti-toll group feels Sanral is fabricating numbers in a bid to win over the "untagged", while Sanral believes Outa is stirring the pot with what it has called "wild allegations".
Rejected research
Outa has again criticised Sanral for what it refers to as "media spin" in claiming over 1.2 million e-tags sold and 66% e-tag registrations out of an e-road user base of about 2.5 million.
Outa spokesperson John Clarke says the alliance is "deeply concerned" by Sanral's claims and has called on an independent audit to clarify what he says is confusing and concealed information. "We have the right to know what the actual number of e-tag transactions is expressed as a percentage of the total, the revenues generated and how Sanral is progressing against its revenue targets."
Clarke cites recent research carried out by Outa, which found less than 30% of freeway users' (around 750 000) vehicles were fitted with e-tags.
Sanral spokesperson Vusi Mona has snubbed Outa's research, though, based on the method the alliance used to garner its numbers. "Outa says it has used a sampling method to arrive at its figures. At Sanral, we don't use sampling, but the actual numbers of e-tags taken up through our customer service centres and bulk distribution."
Mona says, as a state-owned entity, everything Sanral does is subject to audit processes by the auditor-general. "Therefore, we have no reason to 'fabricate' figures that could later be disputed by the auditor-general."
Additionally, says Mona, the e-toll project attracts the scrutiny of rating agencies such as Moody's. "There is, therefore, no incentive on Sanral's part to manufacture any figures."
Ongoing bunfight
Clarke says Mona's latest claim is confusing, in that a 66% e-tag uptake of the average of 2.5 million unique vehicles users per month on Gauteng's freeways would mean some 1.65 million vehicles have fitted e-tags.
"Which number is it then? Is it just over one million cars tagged or is it 1.65 million and why not share the exact number with the public? Outa has, in the past, exposed Sanral's deliberate misinformation about the number of e-tag sales and once again, they appear to provide misinformation in the hope of creating an impression of the public's positive acceptance of this ill-conceived scheme."
ITWeb is awaiting clarification of the figures from Sanral.
Meanwhile, in December already, Sanral said it was "almost at the point where we will no longer respond to Outa's wild assertions, which can only be described as wishful thinking on their part".
Mona said Outa was desperate to sustain "what is increasingly becoming a failed campaign" by making assertions about e-tolling with "no factual basis".
Clarke says Mona is "projecting the wish of his own subconscious thinking" with regards to the latest e-tag figures.
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