The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) on Tuesday said it was aware of “a number of queries” emerging since it kicked off the controversial tolling of certain sections of Gauteng’s highways on December 3.

Since implementation a month ago, the public had taken to social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as to the media, the Justice Project South Africa (JPSA) and the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa), among others, to offload their discontent and anger at the system.

The roads agency, which promised it was making every effort to deal with valid complaints, moved to bring clarity to issues for which it had received public criticism and which had provoked heated debate, including inaccurate, exorbitant or wrongful billing – such as billing of vehicles that had never passed a gantry, with some outside the populous province receiving bills without ever having been in Gauteng – and subsequent harassment through SMS or calls from Sanral’s debt collection arm, the Violations Processing Centre (VPC).

Outa said mobile phone numbers were being obtained through other databases to contact motorists who have opted not to get e-tags or contracts with the Electronic Tolling Company.

“These motorists are being coerced and intimidated to immediately pay outstanding e-toll fees or be handed over for debt collection,” Outa said in a statement late in December.

JPSA chairperson Howard Dembovsky added that the SMSes and, in particular, the email messages that were sent out by the VPC had recently taken an “ominously threatening tone”, indicating that nonpayment was a criminal offence and nonpayers would be stopped by e-toll Law Enforcement Units.

Sanral’s head of communications Vusi Mona said SMS and email messages did not replace invoices but were part of “normal debt collection” processes and afforded the road user an “opportunity to qualify for the relevant discounts” if they settled the amounts within a certain time.

Dembovsky dismissed this, stating that no business entered into a “debt collection process” without first issuing an invoice or providing a person a reasonable time to pay.

“Seven days can hardly be described as a reasonable time to pay, especially in light of the fact that an invoice is specifically not required to be issued in this period in terms of the e-Road regulations,” he told Engineering News Online.

But Mona explained that the possibility existed that a motorist could receive an invoice well after the period that would have entitled the user to qualify for a discount.

Sanral offered users a seven-day grace period after passage under a tolled Gauteng highway to pay the toll fees, after which the account would be handed to the VPC, pushing motorists into the “alternate user” tariffs model, which was “three times” the cost of the tariff applied to registered e-toll users, Mona said, explaining high toll fees being charged.

However, Dembovsky said Sanral was violating the Consumer Protection Act by only displaying the standard tariff and the e-tag tariff on the boards alongside the tolled roads.

“[By only noting the alternate user tariff in the e-toll tariff gazette and not on the signs, Sanral is] effectively hiding the real cost of driving on these freeways from people,” he stated.

“I believe that this is a serious matter that should be taken up with the Consumer Commissioner. After all, how many people do you know who even read government gazettes, let alone carry them around in their vehicles?

“The fact that they apply time-sensitive discounts to this tariff … is irrelevant and it is this that has given rise to the mass confusion.”

Meanwhile, Sanral said motorists receiving bills for vehicles that had not travelled the tolled highways could be victims of cloned vehicles – the acknowledgment of which “astounded” JPSA given Sanral’s repeated claims of using advanced technology to avoid such incidents.

Mona urged such motorists to report incidents so Sanral could flag these vehicles as vehicles of “special interest” and investigate. “If you receive an SMS message and have not used the Gauteng road network, please call the call centre so we may check our records,” he noted.

But this gesture was insincere, Dembovsky claimed, citing an incident wherein a person called and wrote to the centre only to be told that their representation was rejected and they needed to pay or be prosecuted.

Further, responding to media reports of an e-toll bill sent to a person who had been deceased for more than a year, Sanral said it sends bills to the registered owner of the vehicle who had incurred the cost of using the tolled road.

“If someone has died and the executors or inheritors of the estate do not change the ownership of that person’s vehicles, as well as terminate their mobile numbers or email addresses, then the bill will be sent to the last known details in Sanral’s possession,” Mona explained.

Dembovsky agreed, urging people to ensure that their details were completely up to date on the electronic national administration traffic information system, which could only be done at their licensing authority.