The latest threat by Jamie Surkont, chief executive officer of the Electronic Toll Collection (ETC), that road users can be prosecuted for non-payment of their e-toll accounts, is in direct opposition to what the minister of Transport had said about this matter in Parliament in March of this year, Adv. Anton Alberts, the parliamentary spokesperson on Transport said.
Adv. Alberts says the exact words of the minister (Hansard, Wednesday 5 March 2014) regarding this matter were amongst others “…SANRAL is not going to use the road to sentence people”.
“If the government therefore allows people to be prosecuted, the FF Plus will lay a criminal charge against the minister for contempt of Parliament and interference with parliamentary authority.
“It will also be in breach of Section 108 of the Consumer Protection Act if people who had submitted their accounts to the Consumer Commission are indeed prosecuted. This in itself is a crime.
“The ETC, Surkont, SANRAL’ s chief and directors as well as the head of the NPA could therefore be prosecuted if this was to happen.
“It is however important that people submit their accounts to the Consumer Protection Commission and complain about the tariff structure which escalates after accounts have been in arrears for 7 days and that it is unreasonable in terms of the Consumer Protection Act.
“If people are however arrested, the FF Plus will offer its assistance,” Adv. Alberts says.
He said the FF Plus will see to it that the ETC, SANRAL and the minister of Transport strictly adhere to the act.
If the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is not prepared to investigate complaints that the FF Plus will submit in this regard, the party will in conjunction with the Toll Gate Action Group (TAG) aim to institute private proceedings.
People who wish to have more information regarding the procedure to follow to submit a complaint to the Consumer Commission, can access the FF Plus’ web page at www.tollgatepetition.org.za. A link can be followed on it to obtain the necessary information.
Contact no.: 082 391 3117 / 083 419 5403
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