Johannesburg - The City of Joburg's new mayor Herman Mashaba was “playing to the gallery” when, during his acceptance speech at the council meeting, he announced that he had instructed the Joburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) not to harass motorists over unpaid e-toll fees.
So said the SA National Roads Agency's (Sanral) spokesperson Vusi Mona who said the mayor is new in his job and thus “possibly does not understand that e-tolling is a national function and municipal officials have no say over them whatsoever.”
“He is also probably not aware of a statement issued by the JMPD's spokesperson Wayne Minnaar way back in February 2014, which says that it is not checking for e-tags,” he said.
Mona said Sanral does not have an agreement with the JMPD to enforce e-tolls and never has.
“In any case, it would be silly to have one as there is no legal requirement to have an e-tag. We, too, do not check on e-tags. We have no reason to,” he said.
When the first rumour started about JMPD checking for e-tags, Sanral ordered an investigation into it by an independent auditing firm. Not a single instance of the JMPD checking for e-tags could be found.
Mona said that this rumour has now become an urban myth perpetuated by those with an anti-government or anti-e-toll agenda.
“The issue of e-tags has become politicised and reason flies out of the window when the word is used. The mayor was possibly just playing to the gallery - nonetheless Sanral will continue assisting the city in a spirit of cooperative governance - just like it is currently doing with the upgrading of the M1,” he said.
The Star
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