Steve weier om vir e-tol te betaal; Cosatu bal ook vuis

Lees gerus hierdie. Ek weet nie of dit ‘n alias is nie, maar die meriete van die brief staan sterk:

Hi everyone,

I have had some interesting discussions with people who know a lot about these things and the following is relevant.

Tshwane Metro and Joburg Metro are AARTO areas. Traffic offences MUST be treated as AARTO infringements. So, there are some important things you need to know:

1. You CANNOT be arrested for an outstanding fine issued as an AARTO infringement.
2. AARTO contains a charge code (3820) for non-payment of toll. This means that non-payment of toll CANNOT be prosecuted as a criminal offence under the Criminal Procedures Act in Tshwane or Joburg. AARTO (or at least charge code 3820) would have to be repealed before SANRAL could make a criminal prosecution in Tshwane or Joburg. Be careful though – portions of the Gauteng roads run through Ekurhuleni which is NOT an AARTO area – if you go under e-toll gantries in those areas and don’t pay, you might well be prosecuted criminally.
3. An AARTO infringement notice MUST be issued within 40 days of the alleged infringement or it is invalid. (What are the chances? SANRAL can only notify the RTIA that an infringement has been committed once it has become clear that you do not intend to pay, and at what point will the cutoff be? What if I turn round on day 41 and say wait, wait, I’ll pay? The regulations give no clarity. On this point alone, the entire system could collapse.)
4. ANY notice issued under AARTO MUST be issued by registered post or it is invalid. That includes the courtesy letters – which the RTIA hasn’t been issuing, rendering the fines invalid.
5. If you receive an AARTO notice and disagree with it, you can make a representation. If the representation is rejected, you can apply for a review under the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act. This review can, to all intents and purposes, be conducted as a court case and you can bring evidence and plead your case as you would in court. The difference is that you can’t be left with a criminal record, win or lose. The worst that could happen is that the fine is re-instated. The fine for Charge Code 3820? R250. Boo hoo. And also, representations are on a case-by-case basis and would not necessarily set a precedent as a court case might.

By all means check the above with a lawyer, since I am NOT a lawyer and am giving you my layman’s view. However, my approach will be as follows:

1. I’m not buying an e-tag. I refuse to contract myself to pay unjust tolls in perpetuity.
2. I’m not using the R21 which runs through Ekurhuleni, since that raises the possibility of a criminal prosecution
3. I’m not paying e-Tolls. I won’t rehash the reasons, but the summary is that entire system was planned and executed unlawfully, as confirmed by the HMKL case of 2011 in the North Gauteng High Court which SANRAL lost and was denied leave to appeal. There is no doubt whatsoever about the unlawful nature of the entire project. The project is also unconstitutional, since the constitution requires administrative action to be “cost-effective” which e-tolling clearly is not in comparison to a fuel levy.
4. In reality, I am very unlikely to ever be chased down by the law. AARTO is dysfunctional, SANRAL doesn’t have the systems capability to deal with the number of invoices generated and deal with the number of toll rebels there will be, and an AARTO infringement notice has to be issued for EVERY SINGLE GANTRY one passes beneath. Ditto for SANRAL’s civil debt collection process – there is just no way it could ever be made effective and my attitude is “Come at me, bro!”
5. And finally, if SANRAL had taken a conciliatory and reasonable attitude, and not threatened the public, with-held information and acted with astounding arrogance, I might still have been persuaded to pay. But I refuse to be bullied by Nazir Alli or any other of SANRAL’s arrogant henchmen. So this is my way of telling the government to treat me as a law-abiding, employment-creating taxpayer in good standing with the utmost of respect and courtesy.

In summary, if you buy an e-tag or pay, you are signing away your rights and capitulating to an unjust and unlawful system. Starve SANRAL out, just like was done in Portugal and Spain, where e-tolling projects have collapsed due to user non-payment.

Cheers,
Rob Handfiel-Jones
[email protected]

E-tol is n euwel wat nooit moes gebeur het nie. Mense betaal genoeg belasting en goed soos e-tol is onnodig en dien geen doel nie,behalwe om mense uit te buit. Dankie vir die VF Plus dat hul die ding probeer stop het.Dit wys hul gee om vir mense en hul regte. Die stryd gaan voort!

Die gekerm en gemoan oor die e-tolls maak my siek! Omdat dit nou hoogs mode is om teen e-tolls te wees, spring almal nou op die bandwagon en probeer heros te wees maar in die meantime het hulle almal lankal e-tags aangeskaf, dit maak net ekonomiese sense. Ons wil almal in ‘n eerste wereldse land woon, maar tipies, wil niemand daarvoor betaal nie en almal wil net sien wat hulle daaruit vir hulself kan score. So, moet asb nie e-tags koop nie en bly asb van die highways af sodat mense soos ek wat bereid is om dit te doen, die fantastiese highways kan geniet sonder enige van julle skedonks daarop!

Betaal e-tol dit is die regte ding om te doen. Dit is immers ons almal se regering en gee die keiser wat hom toekom.