Justice Project says Department of Transport finds itself in new e-Toll blunder
E-tolling tariff notices published in the Government Gazette contain different e-toll charges in the English and Afrikaans versions. According to lawyers for Justice Project South Africa, this may render the e-tolling regulations invalid and may entitle motorists to claim a refund of e-tolls paid.
“SANRAL and the Department of Transport have been entirely uncooperative with our requests for clarity on the enforcement process, instead referring us to the regulations,” said JPSA Chairman, Howard Dembovsky. “In the process of reviewing the various notices, we found that there are discrepancies between the English and the Afrikaans versions of the tariff notice published on 19th November 2013,” he explained. “Both of the tariff notices were signed by the Acting Director General of the Department of Transport and therefore have equal but conflicting weight,” he added.
“Effectively, the tariffs applicable to registered VLN and ‘alternative users’ differ in the English and Afrikaans versions, and this introduces severe interpretation issues ,” Dembovsky said.
“Our attorneys addressed correspondence to the Minister of Transport yesterday afternoon calling upon her to immediately repeal the offending Tariff Gazette and to instruct SANRAL to cease the levying and collection of e-tolls until the matter is corrected,” he said. “We will keep the media informed of developments in this regard,” he concluded.
Howard Dembovsky
National Chairman – Justice Project South Africa (NPC)
