e-toll Tuesday has arrived. By all accounts only 30% of road users have bought the required e-tags. Considering the State employs around a third of the workforce, the take-up among private sector citizens has been minimal. We spoke to OUTA’s Wayne Duvenage (see interview below) on CNBC Africa yesterday. He is determined to push the envelope and drive on the toll roads without buying a tag. But judging by this morning’s gridlock on suburban roads – and the relatively light traffic on the usually busy roads now being tolled – most Gautengers are simply avoiding the paying option. Traffic authorities in Gauteng are concerned that the usual two hour rush hour crawl will at least double. One of the major arguments by the protagonists of toll roads has been the way it will support the economy by reducing commuting time. Given the initial reaction of Gautengers, this might hold true for upper income groups. But it is certainly not the case for the majority who, at this stage anyway, have taken the rational decision they would rather allocate their resources elsewhere. So what happens next? Immediately after an interview from the local traffic chief complaining about clogged roads, I watched the Gauteng Provincial Government’s Transport MEC tell eNews everything was running smoothly. Taking a line through this, the official policy appears to be brazen it out. Draw from the Joseph Goebbels book of propaganda and create an alternative reality. Truth is the first casualty in battles of the will of the people pitted against the will of the State. Duvenage shares his thoughts on what is likely to happen next. – AH
To watch yesterday’s CNBC Power Lunch Video click here
ALEC HOGG: Controversial e-tolls in Gauteng are scheduled to kick off tomorrow with Sanral, stating that at least 21,000 motorists have bought their e-tags after the commencement date was announced. However, interested parties are currently gathered in court as the Freedom Front Plus has launched an 11th hour case to delay the implementation. Joining us now in the studio is Wayne Duvenhage, chairperson of OUTA. It’s good to have you in the studio, Wayne – big day tomorrow. There was a piece I wrote over the weekend saying ‘this is the day when the will of the government is pitted against the will of the people’, helped along by your view that not too many people have e-tags.
WAYNE DUVENHAGE: Yes absolutely, and government is swooning about the fact that 21,000 have gone out since the e-toll launch date was announced. That’s less than one percent of the 2.5 million that use the freeway, let alone the 3.5 million registered in Gauteng. We’ve denounced their figure before – the 707,000 – lots of government fleets etcetera have lied about those sorts of numbers in the past. That I think is an indictment to them and that is a clear signal from society that they are not giving this system the thumbs-up. IPOS did research; they put that out on Friday: 42 percent of people said they do not intend to get e-tags, and this was a credible research. Only 14 percent agreed with the fact that e-tolling is the right way to fund these roads, so I think everything is pointing to the fact that the system does not have the support in the support and by in from society. These systems of this nature need that, otherwise they fail.
ALEC HOGG: The problem is…and I had this conversation with a good friend of mine yesterday…a very smart guy, who said ‘if we as citizens decide which laws we want to follow and which we don’t want to follow, then chaos will erupt’.
WAYNE DUVENHAGE: Well, I guess if you had that attitude back in the apartheid days when those were the laws – albeit illegitimate – then we wouldn’t be where we are today. When a law is an unjust one – and remember that e-tolling still has to be heard. The Supreme Court of Appeal hung our case on a technicality and they stated very clearly the issues around Sanral’s lawful or unlawful behaviour still has to be tested in court. That is all there and that still has to be tested, so if you want to run roughshod over society, and our laws say that you have to have meaningful engagements with society and the public and you don’t do that, then you face the wrath of society. Unjust laws – and it’s not just here, it’s around the world that processes of this nature happens – are set aside and are made ungovernable by society – why – because they don’t believe that they’ve been participated with properly. The laws haven’t been applied, the Minister didn’t apply his mind, and he didn’t have all the facts in front of him… There’s enough here for the public to step back and say ‘on this one we will not support you’. I don’t see a big outcry around paying tax. I don’t see a big outcry about the fact that we don’t need roads. We understand all of this stuff. Citizens aren’t fools, but in this space, especially when you have all the other corruption, the maladministration, 30 billion rand wasted, and Nkandla it makes matters worse for them.
ALEC HOGG: I would have thought that the Mail & Guardian’s piece on Friday would certainly not have helped government’s case in this instance, but what is going to happen tomorrow? Are people going to pull down the gantries?
WAYNE DUVENHAGE: Well, we’re hoping that there isn’t destruction to property. We know that it is one of the unintended consequences of an unjust process like this. It happened in Portugal – damage to gantries. We’re saying that shouldn’t happen. We’re hoping it doesn’t, but what we are going to see is that less than half the cars out there… In fact, we’ve had people checking windscreens over the weekend – it’s minimal, because even of those 700,000: those might be tags in cupboards of big fleet companies, not even fitted yet to cars and all those administration processes still have to be followed. You’re going to have many people on the road where people are not getting tags. They’re going to see what happens. They want to get the bill in the post. They’ll make their decisions. You’ll have others saying ‘we’re not paying- full stop. We’re prepared to go to court. We’re prepared to go to jail on this’. There are people that are making those statements. It’s going to be a messy affair, but government is not listening – they’re forging ahead. We believe there is a solution if they will just sit, listen, and chat with the stakeholders – all of them – we can find a solution to this. If they don’t want to go down that road, they must deal and answer to the unintended consequences.
ALEC HOGG: It’s the will of the government and the will of the people, as we said right at the outset. Wayne, what happens when the first guy is arrested and thrown into jail? Are you going to support them?
WAYNE DUVENHAGE: Well, they need to summons the individual so they can’t just throw someone in jail. That person has to have the right to go and defend themselves in court. We will be there to assist with the pack of all the stuff that we’ve learnt around the unlawfulness of e tolling. To do that and to get there, we have to prepare. We have to get our legal team sorted out. They can’t do this for nothing. These things take time. That case might go to an appeal. We have to go and raise the other estimated five million rand, and the last time we went to the public to get the funding, it was a tough job. Now we have to say ‘until we get commitment of at least 10,000 people to sign the debit order of R50.00/month over a year – whatever that funding decision is – we can’t just go ahead. It’s hard to fight these cases on behalf of society without the support, and we’re talking about the funding support of society. Now think about it: 10,000 people, less than one percent of the regular…
ALEC HOGG: What about this legal firm that said they would represent the first…?
WAYNE DUVENHAGE: We’ve met with them and they’re part of this whole effort. It’s all very well to say ‘we’ll do it’, but that’s not the senior counsel. That’s not the junior counsel. You need to have the right people in, even at a reduced rate. There are administration costs: it costs us half a million rand just to prepare the files for some of these court appearances.
ALEC HOGG: What are you going to do tomorrow? Tomorrow’s the big day. You’ve been fighting this for years. Tomorrow we are supposed to abide by the law. Are you going to…?
WAYNE DUVENHAGE: No, I’m not going to get an e-tag and I will be driving on these roads and not paying. Hundreds of thousands of others will be doing that and it’s not necessarily breaking the law because we believe the process is unlawful. It was brought about in an unlawful manner, and that needs to be tested. Until that’s tested, it’s not…
ALEC HOGG: Do you have any understanding of what government is going to do to try to enforce this?
WAYNE DUVENHAGE: No, we’ve asked them just as Project of South Africa has asked them, to give clarity around the enforcement process. They are not providing the clarity. They like that fact because they keep people confused. The more people are confused, the more they go out and say – in this state of confusion – ‘let me just get an e-tag because I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know if they’re not going to license my car. I don’t know if I’m going to be pulled over’. Sanral loves this, so they’re deliberately keeping people in this confused state of mind and we’re telling people ‘be strong. They don’t have the numbers they need. The system will fail’.
