Political and civic leaders were misleading South Africans about the payment of e-toll fees, the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) said today.
“Sanral has noted with concern untruths being propagated by some political and civil organisation leaders trying to gather support for their grievances around e-tolling,” it said in a statement.
Sanral denied it would have access to the private bank accounts of registered e-toll users.
The Independent Online reported in January that a clause in Sanral’s terms and conditions stated it was authorised to obtain information from any institution where the user may have held an account, or from any credit bureau.
This clause had consumer organisations, trade unions and some politicians up in arms.
Sanral said the automated credit card payment system did not give it access to account holders’ bank accounts.
Rather those who registered for this type of payment could regulate their account by setting pre-determined top-up threshold levels.
If motorists were unsure about giving their credit card details for payment of toll fees, they could use a prepaid e-toll account, it said.
This meant they could top-up their e-toll account at a customer service outlet or via electronic funds transfer.
“This is already widely used by other organisations,” Sanral said.
The national roads agency also warned that 1 200 people stood to lose their jobs if the e-tolling system was scrapped.
During its nationwide strike yesterday, the Congress of SA Trade Unions called for e-tolling to be scrapped.
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan announced recently that the tariffs for Gauteng’s e-tolls had been reduced to 30c per kilometre for light motor vehicles with an e-tag.
Tolling is scheduled to start on April 30.
