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OUTA has barred 55 of SANRAL’s summonses served on e-toll defaulters, with a total value of almost R2 million.

In these cases brought against OUTA’s contributing supporters, SANRAL failed to follow legal procedures and deadlines in getting these summonses to court.

Last month OUTA pulled out of the attempts to identify an e-toll test case jointly with SANRAL, as this was taking too long to get to court. Instead, OUTA identified one of its supporters’ cases - SANRAL’s claim in the Pretoria High Court against Thandanani Truckers and Hauliers - and filed legal papers outlining the basis of opposition to e-tolls. This matter has still to be heard.

Meanwhile, SANRAL’s attempts to summons OUTA members are failing.

“We were aware that whilst developing the complicated e-toll test case process, SANRAL was issuing default judgments and declarations against the general public, in the belief they would be able to secure a precedent-setting case,” says Ben Theron, OUTA’s Chief Operations Officer. “One would have thought SANRAL would have learnt by now that coercion and intimidation has not worked in the past and will not resolve the entity’s mounting debt.”

Despite numerous warnings that the Gauteng e-toll scheme would collapse due to its cumbersome, costly and burdensome administrative processes, SANRAL and the Department of Transport have decided to continue their litigious war against motorists.
“As far as OUTA is concerned, SANRAL’s journey of following an extensive litigation process to collect outstanding debt will take years to unfold and is a significant waste of the courts’ time and taxpayers’ money,” says Theron.

OUTA is a proudly South African non-profit civil action organisation, comprising of and funded by people who are passionate about holding government accountable and improving the prosperity of South Africa.

Issued by OUTA