Outa’s Appeal Could Succeed


By Staff Writer    08-Jun-2013 21:32 UTC+02:00 10

The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) is planning to implement e-tolls on Gauteng highways in the very near future. According to reports, everything is now  in place. The only thing standing on Sanral’s way is the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa), which is against Sanral’s plan. If it was for Sanral, e-tolls would have been implemented last year. However, at the beginning of 2012, Outa lodged a court application to halt the launch of e-tolls.

In April 2012, Judge Bill Prinsloo granted Outa an interdict, which prevented Sanral from launching e-tolls pending a full judicial review of Outa’s application. In December, the High Court ruled against Outa. However, in January this year, Outa filed an application to seek leave to appeal against the High Court’s decision at the Supreme Court of Appeal. Outa’s legal fees kept escalating in the process.

On Wednesday, it was reported that Outa might have to drop its fight against e-tolls due to financial shortage. Outa was in arrears of R3 million and needed to raise attorneys’ fees of R1 million before the 21st of June in order to be able to proceed with its case. Outa chairman Wayne Duvenage appealed for donations to raise the required R1 million. A number of companies and individuals then started donating.

According to Independent Online, on Thursday night, Duvenage was expecting around R120 000 to have been donated and was astounded when he realized that R540 000 had been donated. On Friday, the Democratic Alliance (DA) announced that it would donate R1  million to help Outa with its court case. Although this pleased many members of the public, Cosatu thought DA’s donation was an opportunistic act aimed at generating more votes during the 2014 elections.

Outa’s appeal will be heard in September at the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein. Many Gauteng citizens are against the implementation of e-tolls and are hoping that the appeal will be successful. Pieter Conradie of DLA Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, a law firm leading Outa’s case, said the firm would not be leading Outa’s appeal at the Senior Court of Appeal if it did not believe it could succeed.



 10 Comments


  1. Kejoy says:

    Does anyone know what will happen if outa is successful? I presume the overseas people will want their money, and they’ll want the lost profit. I think it will be a mess.Even if outa loses the appeal, the e-tolls can still be defeated if only a few people buy e-tags. The sheer logistical problem of trying to collect tolls via the post office will defeat the system. But then what? Toll gates?

    • Zipper Z says:

      Imagine what will happen if they don’t succeed…..

      • Kejoy says:

        Yes, I can imagine. I have seen a comment that sanral is considering privatising the roads. In that case some well-connected gentlemen will become mega-rich out of we poor motorists.

  2. walter says:

    service must be pay, and I agree 100%, but what I disagree is that we are crying for internal jobs and our corrupt government do a deal with people from Europe.if the funds would go to a proper cause we would not be so upset,if every one would see a change in a government attitude words the service, like gardens, roads, proper sign, light in the street, etc, we would pay with no objections, but we all know that it is one scam after another’s,nothing transparent … till we see ruins like the rest of Africa..this is an unfortunate way of African people

  3. Robin Grant says:

    I suggest COSATU put their money where their mouth’s are and donate a million rand too seeing as they are opposed to the tolling. COSATU is big talk and no action. At least the DA is actually working to get this insidious system outlawed..

    • Zipper Z says:

      COSATU wants be the hunter and the victim … they are so confused at the moment that I wouldn’t count on them for anything rational or helpful.

  4. gogo says:

    No-body should buy the tags…. no-body at all. If you’re forced to buy them, leave it at home most of the time or put it in a metal box so it cant be read while in your car…

  5. Unitas_Amor says:

    Our taxes are supposed to be used for infrastructure development. POINT! Every year government seeks more and more ways to use our taxes to meet their personal objectives in enriching themselves and then need to implement other ways of sourcing funds to pay for that which they should have done in the first place.e-Tolls is just another form of tax. With all the taxes we are currently paying (75%) it does not pay to own a house, car or business anymore. The higher the taxes the cheaper imported goods become, more unemployment, weaker rand and gradually we have the international scavengers like China that infiltrate our economy on the back of corruption paid to government officials.Look at the whole of Africa – same story as history repeats itself.Government has a budget and they must stick to it! The parasites that manage e-tolling get paid more than the initial capital expenditure – Just another form of corruption – SICK!

    • Brokenit says:

      Time for this nation to refuse being abused and stop paying taxes from the individual to corporations. The taxpayer needs to be in power and not the ‘majority’.

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