As of Friday, April 12, motorists were no longer charged for passing through the metal gantries dotted along sections of the province’s highways – news that the car rental industry has welcomed.
“In compliance with the Government Gazette, Gauteng e-toll gantries will be deactivated at midnight on 11 April 2024, and Bluu Car Rental will therefore cease to charge clients during this time,” Bluu Car Rental said in a statement last week. Bluu also confirmed that it will start removing e-tags from its fleet of vehicles.
E-tolls have been a source of contention since their implementation, and after initially opposing e-tolling through legal action, the Southern African Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (Savrala) eventually complied in 2013.
“Prior to the e-toll launch, Savrala members financially supported the legal opposition while simultaneously tagging their fleet and passing the e-toll costs on to clients,” Sandile Ntseoane, GM of Savrala, told Travel News.
Travellers to the province who rented a vehicle would previously be charged for e-tolls on their final invoice. Although e-tolls have been scrapped, boomed tolls will continue to operate nationally, with fees collected as motorists pass through plazas along the country’s main routes.
Sanral debt and government funding
According to Ntseoane, while Savrala is committed to driving the delivery of a transport system that is safe, reliable, and economically integrated, it believes that “any funding solution should be driven by efficiency and a clear strategy.”
Daily Maverick has reported that the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) will hand over the management of 201km of Gauteng’s tolled roads to the provincial government. Development and maintenance of the province’s roads are expected to cost R3 billion each year, however, during a media briefing held on April 10, no details were provided about how this would be funded. In addition, it was revealed during the briefing that the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) debt currently stood at R43 billion.
Sanral noted that it would collect outstanding e-toll debts but that the roads agency was still determining how to do so.
“We are astounded by Minister Chikunga’s comments that they are still deliberating on the outstanding e-toll debt matter,” said Wayne Duvenage, Outa CEO.
“Quite frankly, in our opinion, there is no outstanding e-toll debt from motorists. This is also reflected as such in Sanral’s financial statements, whereby all past e-toll debts they couldn’t pursue were written off years ago.
“With no further options for pursuing this debt, the bulk of which has already prescribed, this notion of trying to squeeze unpaid e-toll bills from the wallets of millions of motorists is a fallacy and illusion that Sanral is simply unable to accept.”
