OUTA goes to court to end the e-toll debt collection. Image credit: OUTA.
(The Post News) – The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has launched a legal bid to stop the collection of unpaid e-toll debt, following the official scrapping of the controversial Gauteng e-toll system in April 2024.
According to Outa, on August 20, the organisation filed papers in the Pretoria High Court against the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) and three government ministers, seeking a declaration that Sanral has effectively abandoned its collection of the outstanding e-toll debts.
The applicants are Outa and 2 028 e-toll defendants, individuals and businesses. The respondents are Sanral, the ministers of Transport and Finance, the minister and director-general of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, and the Commissioner of the South African Revenue Service (SARS). Sanral has indicated that it intends to oppose Outa’s application. No other responses have been received so far.
The notice of motion calls on the high court to declare that Sanral has abandoned its debt claims against the 2 028 e-toll defendants, subsequently removing these matters from court. If Outa wins, Sanral’s claims against e-toll defendants will fall away. It also requested the court to make an order to force Sanral to pay their legal costs in the cases.
Sanral has taken no further steps on these cases. Outa said it campaigned against the tolling of these urban commuter roads since 2012, including through the courts. After the switch-on, thousands of motorists refused to pay.
The cases OUTA is defending
In October 2015, the organisation launched its E-Toll Defence Umbrella to defend those who received summonses from Sanral for failing to pay alleged e-toll debts.
The defendants were served with summonses for e-toll debts by Sanral between 11 April 2016 and 10 April 2019, and approached the orginisation for assistance. Outa then instructed and paid attorneys and counsel, who prepared and filed notices of intention to defend and then pleadings on behalf of many of these defendants.
The debt claimed in these cases totalled R265.060 million at the time of issuing summons. The biggest claim against a business is R13.510m and against an individual is R814 978, while the smallest claim is R1 249.20 against an individual.
In every one of these cases, the organisation filed notices of intention to defend and pleadings, and often further paperwork was filed by Sanral and Outa. Only a few of the high court cases progressed to a complete set of pleadings being filed, while in the magistrates’ courts, no cases progressed beyond the pleadings stage. “Due to the sheer number of matters, and later as a result of the test case, in many matters, the exchange of pleadings ceased after a notice of intention to defend was filed,” said Advocate Stefanie Fick, Executive Director of the Accountability Division.
The proceedings were stayed in late 2018 by agreement pending the determination of a test case. Sanral has filed notice of intention to oppose the case. No court date is yet set.
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