Civil rights alliance Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) chairperson Wayne Duvenage said on Wednesday that there is a growing momentum from both business and individuals to contribute to its legal funds.

The alliance, that interdicted the launch of tolling on Gauteng’s upgraded freeways, has now raised just under R5-million for its legal challenge, almost half of the R10.8-million expected legal costs if the case runs its full course.

“We are encouraged by the growing number of corporate entities coming on board to support this extremely important case. Equally, more and more individuals and families are contributing as a result of both the social media campaigns in place and the real savings that households have made as a direct result of the interdict on e-tolling,” Duvenage said in a statement.

The e-tolling court case is now moving into the final stage of reviewing all the documents used in order to make the decision to introduce an e-toll system on Gautengs highways.

“The alliance is putting the final touches to the supplementary affidavits. We expect this matter to be heard in the next few months, but this will depend on technical delays and the appeal of the interdict, which is being heard in the Constitutional Court mid-August 2012,” he added.

In May, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan applied to the Constitutional Court to set aside a High Court order preventing the South African National Roads Agency Limited from collecting e-tolls pending the outcome of a judicial review.

Gordhan said that the decision to halt e-tolling would negatively affect the economy.
 

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