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It does not seem that the South African National Roads Agency is having much luck with its e-toll debts. In its financial year it has just written off R3,6 billion relating to older debts. In other words, on their own books they have given up on collecting that money, although they say they are going to try and collect it through the courts.
Apparently, estimates are that 80% of people in Gauteng do not pay their e-tolls and it is something I have written about before. My firm pays its bills on all of the cars we drive, but this is beginning to look like a disastrous project. Apparently, the toll operating loss for the year to March 2017 was R4,58 billion and they only collected R1,85 billion during the year which is much less than was initially estimated. Of course, the other side of the story is that the government is chipping in to SANRAL with grants, which means if you are not paying the tax on the actual road you are paying it in increased taxes anyway. Apparently, the government is now looking at a fuel levy instead of the e-tolls as one of its considerations with the Minister of Transport saying this in June.
Posted by Michael de Broglio on Friday 12-Jan-18
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Comments
Cornelie said:
on Friday 02-Feb-18 10:58 AM
They will find a way to make us as tax payers suffer now to increase the fuel for the tolls to be paid is a bit unfair everything is already so expensive. Its already a struggle as it is to support your family. One of these day we will pay a R100 a litre for fuel they will add everything on there where they cannot recover the money as they know everyone needs petrol. Ridicules
Thabitha said:
on Wednesday 31-Jan-18 07:28 AM
What a waist of money so much money was written off and out of 100% just 20% is paying, I hope its clear that this is a losing battle our government need to come down to people and pay serious attention so that they will know what is needed.
Prishani said:
on Monday 29-Jan-18 04:34 PM
I have not paid for e-tolls and I don’t intend doing so! Tax payers in this country need to take a stand! Enough wasting money! It’s the last thing our country needs.
Liz said:
on Wednesday 24-Jan-18 03:02 PM
I have not paid e-toll and will not consider doing so either it was an absolute waste of tax-payers money and has been wholly unsuccessful.
Michelle said:
on Wednesday 24-Jan-18 10:39 AM
I only received a bill once of R479.00, almost a year and a half ago. I never paid the bill. But I believe we already pay tollgates so why should we have to participate in payments of E Toll as well.
Nicolle said:
on Monday 22-Jan-18 09:37 AM
The lack of interest, and, absolute rebellion to pay E-tolls, is one of the first (and hopefully not the last) movements of solidarity seen in Gauteng.
Nikita said:
on Friday 19-Jan-18 04:48 PM
Unfortunately we go through a lot of e-tolls with driving to court and back so I would hate to know what my bill is to date. I do not believe in paying e-toll and until a court tells me otherwise I will refuse to pay. The government is so corrupt and should focus on the money they are stealing from us before coming after us!
Brenda Du Toit B said:
on Friday 19-Jan-18 08:59 AM
This e-toll system is a Joke for me.I am getting bills after bills and i will not pay them.
Where is the E-Toll money going ?Its definitely not going to our roads i am against this e-Toll System
Ashleigh said:
on Friday 19-Jan-18 08:56 AM
I don't pay E-Toll. I think we pay enough Taxes and Normal Toll as is, From the start of this, Many South Africans decided to stand together on this and not participate in supporting this. I stand by letting this system collapse.
Wayne said:
on Friday 19-Jan-18 07:00 AM
Sanral and the government were warned a long time ago not to proceed with the etoll project in Johannesburg, South Africa. Existing roads were expanded in suburban areas. Toll gantries were built and most motorist have to pass under a few gantries to get to work. Alternative routes are in a terrible state and congested. Nearly 2 million motorists are using the toll roads deliberately not paying. There
Sanral (South African National Roads Agency) say that they are still attempting to recover outstanding debt through the courts. A number of motorists have received threatening SMSs. There has been no court action yet.
The civil action group OUTA (Opposition United Against Tax Abuse) will be defending their members in court against any legal action brought by SANRAL.
Outa have also recommended a long time ago that the South African government rather look at the possibility to pay for upgrade to the roads using a fuel levy and this is what the government is now considering
Henrietta said:
on Wednesday 17-Jan-18 10:46 AM
I have to say etoll is a total waste of money. They've got etol without our input but we end up paying for it, not fair. Either way they will always make a plan to get the money somehow someway. I honestly think etoll is useless. If a person can see a difference on the roads one can maybe be convince that it's worthwhile but the statements we get are ridiculous. And I agree with Mathilda, you have to pay etoll and toll gates how fair is it to pay to fares for one road
brumilde said:
on Wednesday 17-Jan-18 08:09 AM
My almost father in law received a summons for R30 000 to be paid within 10 days. What a joke, he has gone to OUTA so that they can assist him with this nonsense.Well what did we expect ... someone has to pay for the PROJECT. and it will come out of your pocket one way or another
Daniella said:
on Tuesday 16-Jan-18 08:36 AM
I honestly feel as though etoll should be scrapped as a whole. its an unnecessary way for them to take our money. The money clearly isn't going towards fixing our roads, im constantly seeing new potholes and potholes that have been there for far too long!
Jadine Richards said:
on Monday 15-Jan-18 02:12 PM
I have always paid my e-toll account. Although I have never been happy about e-toll's and I understand the frustration of road users I don't think the e-toll battle is worth the drama.
Angelique Jurgens said:
on Friday 12-Jan-18 03:10 PM
I will just wait until I am forced to pay the e-toll but I have not paid and don't plan to pay. I owe a small R100 or something ridiculous. I highly doubt they will be paying more money to force me to pay that R100. How long will it take them to actually implement a fuel levy - its our government we are speaking about.
Jolene said:
on Friday 12-Jan-18 03:05 PM
I am part of the 80%, I have not paid any e-toll money at all and I am not planning on doing so in the future, it was a huge waste of our tax money.
Bianca R said:
on Friday 12-Jan-18 12:54 PM
I have an e-tag and I religiously pay funds into my account monthly, the travelling gets deducted directly from the account and you just use and top up as you please. Yes, we did not ask for it but no-one is listening to that argument so I would rather be safe than sorry and supplied with a summons, somewhere down the line. The less drama, the happier I am. Sometimes it's easier to just comply than fight a losing battle. At the end of the day, the gantries were put up and they continue to stand, just like the debts will be repaid and whichever measure they have to use, they will ensure that they get their money.
Jessica Apfel said:
on Friday 12-Jan-18 12:54 PM
SANRAL will have to generate the money from somewhere, which means tax payers can expect a hike. The fact that they are willing to 'write-off' R3.6 billion in old debt means that South Africans will not be prosecuted / penalised for failure to pay, simply adding to the already negative perception. The Prescription Act would invariably come into play within such a situation though?
Anna said:
on Friday 12-Jan-18 11:43 AM
Etoll gates were another white elephant. Another waste of the taxpayers' money.
Helen said:
on Friday 12-Jan-18 09:18 AM
I am very surprised that still 20% of all people are still paying their e-toll accounts. I do wish for that system to collapse, I think less and less people will pay e-toll bills, even if to look into the accounts e-toll sends, the numbers they capture does not make any sense!
Mathilda said:
on Friday 12-Jan-18 09:15 AM
The thing is they bring in E-toll and the Tollgates still remain?
We drive through 1 E-toll gantry and 1 Tollgate a day
I agree with Patrick we never agreed to this?
I have never paid E-toll and I’m not planning to
Alexis said:
on Friday 12-Jan-18 09:06 AM
All they do is take take take and take some more....this system was never going to work out, we all knew that and I agree with Patrick.
Monique Du Preez said:
on Friday 12-Jan-18 08:59 AM
It is rather ridiculous that only one province in South Africa is obligated to pay for something we never wanted. Maybe the people residing in Gauteng would have felt and reacted differently if they had the opportunity to have a say in the matter before this decision by the government was forced upon them.
Dune said:
on Friday 12-Jan-18 08:53 AM
I also do not pay e-toll, but it is true what Zindy has mentioned, should they implement a fuel levy due to people not paying e-toll, then there will most definitely be strikes and I will most definitely support it.
Suzanne said:
on Friday 12-Jan-18 08:49 AM
I do not pay e-toll and am not planning on doing so in the future. I do not like the fuel levy either, but then you do not have a choice.
patrick said:
on Friday 12-Jan-18 08:42 AM
This is what happens when a government feeds people what they don't like . I wish the remaining 205 can stop paying and the system collapses further .
Melissa said:
on Friday 12-Jan-18 08:37 AM
They can send me bill after bill. I refuse to pay e-toll. They are not doing anything with the money, because our roads are in a bad condition. Where is the money going to?
Clare said:
on Friday 12-Jan-18 08:23 AM
I am still against the E toll System we already pay taxes that is meant to be use to clean up our road and fix the Road and I see that it only fells peoples pockets. So why do we need to pay for these new structures that no body is supporting?
Michelle D said:
on Friday 12-Jan-18 08:15 AM
I have an e-tag and pay my e-toll bills. The N1 between Johannesburg and Pretoria has a large concentration of e-tolls, but the road is very well maintained. When people refuse to pay their e-toll bills they fail to see that the debts pertaining to e-tolls have already been created and that the government must find a way of paying these debts off. Should the government add a fuel levy it would be detrimental for those persons and companies who have already paid their bills. This would have the effect that these persons are having to double pay their portion towards these debts.
Nina said:
on Friday 12-Jan-18 08:10 AM
They will have to make a new plan if they want to get people to pay. Obviously this system is not working and it is just creating a headache for everyone. Will be interesting to see what they come up with eventually, but I agree with everyone that it is sad that we can't see how the money is actually being used.
Bianca N said:
on Friday 12-Jan-18 07:55 AM
I have not paid any e-toll money and I don't plan to either. Our roads look terrible and even if we do pay the e-toll accounts I doubt it will be used for anything that will benefit us as citizens.
Sarah said:
on Friday 12-Jan-18 07:43 AM
If people can see where their money is going , they won't mind pay extra fuel levy. Some of our roads don't even get fixed, they look so bad. I can see a lot of complications in the future, if they increase the levy.
Zindy said:
on Friday 12-Jan-18 07:22 AM
A fuel levy will force people to pay but this will cause complications since certain forms of transport is already secluded from this and not everyone drives these roads so why should they pay extra.. I can see more strikes and closures of roads ahead if they decide to put this into play.
Jadine E said:
on Friday 12-Jan-18 07:21 AM
Apparently I owe more than a R1500 for a non existing car, they send messages randomly on amounts owing to them with the expectancy for people to just pay whatever they send not doing calculation or research on how they worked out the amounts.
David said:
on Friday 12-Jan-18 07:06 AM
i have not paid a cent to them.
nobody i know pays a cent to them.
i would guess that the vast majority of companies because they are easy targets, and a very, very small percentage of privately owned vehicles.
Johannesburg based attorney specializing in personal injury matters including Road Accident Fund claims and medical negligence matters. My interests include golf, reading and the internet and the way it is constantly developing. I have a passion for life and a desire for less stress!
