E Toll

[Mefiante]

Another system glitch to inspire nothing but great confidence in SANRAL’s technical competence, preceded by another foot-in-mouth moment by none other than SANRAL’s perjurer-in-chief, Vusi Mona.  (OUTA has the agreement in writing from SANRAL’s lawyers that OUTA members won’t be pursued while the test case is in progress.)

'Luthon64

[Tweefo]

https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/south-africa/first-high-court-judgement-for-non-payment-of-e-tolls/

[Mefiante]

The most important aspect of this case is that it is a default judgement.  That is, the judgement was made in favour of SANRAL in the absence of the respondent or any other opposing representations.  All SANRAL had to do to be awarded a default judgement was to demonstrate to the Court that it had a legitimate claim against the respondent.  To achieve this, SANRAL had to meet three criteria:  (1) that it had legal standing to bring the case; (2) that its claim was lawful; and (3) that it could factually substantiate its claim.

SANRAL is the agency mandated by the Minister of Transport and the State to collect e-Tolls, so SANRAL’s legal standing is not in question.  Since its claim was not in contravention of any legislation or common law principles and was in respect of an unpaid service charge (as SANRAL has previously asserted of e-Tolls), the claim is also clearly a lawful one.  Photos taken at various gantries and times, as well as copies of the invoices sent to the respondent, are sufficient to substantiate the factuality of SANRAL’s claim, and thus the required standards were met, ensuring judgement in SANRAL’s favour.

And because the application was heard unopposed, the Court had no reason to probe other germane questions such as the lawfulness of e-Tolls, SANRAL’s prior conduct in attempting to coerce public compliance, or the certification of the e-Toll equipment.

The judgement sets a precedent in that a Court found in SANRAL’s favour against an e-Tolls delinquent.  The judgement may well be overturned on appeal for any of several possible reasons.  But this is actually moot.  The test case between SANRAL and OUTA where the merits of the whole e-Toll ball of wax will be dissected will not be significantly affected by this ruling because its basis is very different.

The bottom line is that this judgement doesn’t really change anything, except for those who don’t bother to oppose any e-Toll case SANRAL may bring against them.  The reader can check the OUTA website for more detail.

'Luthon64

[brianvds]

I suspect that ultimately, it will not matter what the court decides. We are not going to pay. Finish en klaar.

[Tweefo]

As suspected, the slimy bastards are now trying to use the judgment of the other day to make out that the court has now decided in their favor. As Mefiante pointed out, the court's ruling was not on the gantry system at all.
https://www.biznews.com/sa-investing/2017/03/24/e-tolls-sanral-outa/

[Mefiante]

OUTA cancels its test case, basically in response to SANRAL’s behaviour mirroring that of Zuma.  Instead, OUTA will take on the first case to go to Court where one of its members is charged and an Intention to Defend notice has been filed.

'Luthon64

[BoogieMonster]

The totals keep climbing.

[BoogieMonster]

Well at least there's some sort of positive outcomes arising. Albeit that for some mystifying reason the system is still in operation.

[BoogieMonster]

Party like it's 2013.

[brianvds]

Party like it's 2013.

Erm, we are already paying a fuel levy, which was supposed to be used for building and maintaining roads. Of course, it had to come to this: it is a highly effective way for the government to squeeze revenue out of us because there isn't really a thing you can do about it. So now we'll be paying toll even for the non-toll roads.

[Mefiante]

Gauteng Premier David Makhura recently admitted that the e-Tolls scheme was a flop and that he would raise the issue with Cyril Ramatolladingding.  (Recall that Cyril was the man behind SANRAL’s “new dispensation” a year or two ago, which was yet another flop to add to all the others.)  Here’s a decent summary of the e-Tolls scheme’s status quo and what its future is likely to be.

'Luthon64

[Mefiante]

The main problem with this latest coercive approach (which was first mooted a while back) is that it just assumes that the driver is the same person as the one in whose name the vehicle is registered, which is at best a tenuous assumption.  No doubt they will “address” it by putting the burden of proving that it was someone else driving on the vehicle owner via a cumbersome and slow objection process, which again inverts the idea that the plaintiff has the main burden of proving the allegation.  Assuming it’s even practicable, will they augment the gantries with additional cameras to capture drivers’ faces, and possibly even facial recognition software?  Further problems include faked number plates and the ongoing eNATIS failures.

'Luthon64

[brianvds]

The main problem with this latest coercive approach (which was first mooted a while back) is that it just assumes that the driver is the same person as the one in whose name the vehicle is registered, which is at best a tenuous assumption.  No doubt they will “address” it by putting the burden of proving that it was someone else driving on the vehicle owner via a cumbersome and slow objection process, which again inverts the idea that the plaintiff has the main burden of proving the allegation.  Assuming it’s even practicable, will they augment the gantries with additional cameras to capture drivers’ faces, and possibly even facial recognition software?  Further problems include faked number plates and the ongoing eNATIS failures.

'Luthon64

What we may well end up seeing is thousands upon thousands of people simply driving without a license. I'm sure that will make our roads so much safer.

[BoogieMonster]

What we may well end up seeing is thousands upon thousands of people simply driving without a license. I'm sure that will make our roads so much safer.

Business as usual then.

[brianvds]

What we may well end up seeing is thousands upon thousands of people simply driving without a license. I'm sure that will make our roads so much safer.

Business as usual then.

Yup, except even more so. And if half of drivers do not have licenses, the law becomes impossible to enforce, and South Africa will become the first modern country in the world where you can drive without a license.

Now that might make for an interesting experiment. It is generally assumed that the legal requirement for a license makes for safer roads. It makes perfect sense that it does too, but does it in fact? Has this ever actually been tested? Perhaps we are about to test it. :-)