The SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) has always been prepared to listen to the voice of the disabled via the QuadPara Association of SA (QASA), but the organisation keeps vacillating between litigation and negotiation.
This is according to Sanral's communications manager, Vusi Mona, and comes in response to an allegation by QASA CEO Ari Seirlis that the roads agency has ignored the plea of the disabled for e-toll exemptions, and that Sanral CEO Nazir Alli tried to essentially bribe QASA to pull out of the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa).
Seirlis recently said its communication with Sanral has not only been unfruitful, but also underlined with shady dealings.
He says Alli approached him earlier this year and gave him the promise that Sanral would look into the group's plea for e-toll exemptions, in exchange for QASA no longer supporting Outa.
Mona says Sanral rejects the allegation that its CEO tried to strike a shady deal with QASA. "We respect [QASA's] constitutional right to associate itself with whomsoever."
He says up to the 11th hour before the Supreme Court of Appeal heard Outa's case two weeks ago, QASA's lawyers and Sanral's lawyers were in discussions, but ultimately QASA opted to stick with Outa on the litigation route.
"Now that its case has collapsed, [QASA] seeks to project Sanral in bad light - but does not tell the public that we were prepared to negotiate in good faith. The Sanral Act does provide for exemptions and like any other person or body, the association will now have to follow the procedures laid out in the Act."
He says the association must live with the consequences of having chosen to go the legal route.
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