Just when you thought it was buried, the e-toll monster has risen up from the grave and is haunting us all over again.
Now, an organisation called the Inclusive Society Institute (ISI) has gone out to get a legal opinion which says that, in terms of the equality guarantees in our constitution, the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) is not permitted to retrospectively write off the e-toll debt owed by millions of defaulting motorists.
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This means that the axe still hangs over the non-payers … although it is unclear how the debt will be recovered without sparking a serious revolt.
Sanral likes to claim that its parlous financial situation is to due the lack of revenue from e-tolls, although like much the organisation has said in the past, this is somewhat economical with the facts, given that revenue was originally projected to only be R2 billion a year.
Also, the case brought by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) challenging the very legal foundation of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project is still pending.
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The uncertainty is not helped by the government’s lack of action, despite last year declaring the e-tolls was dead. Do what Outa says: bite the bullet, scrap all debt and repay those who paid.
