Road safety and motoring lobby group Justice Project South Africa (JPSA) has put the cat among the eToll pigeons today, by issuing a press statement suggesting that the eTolling regulations may be invalid and motorists could claim back any charges so far paid.
The rather dramatic statement was put out by JPSA Chairman, Howard Dembovsky. Acording to Dembovsky:
““In the process of reviewing the various notices, we found that there are discrepancies between the English and the Afrikaans versions of the tariff notice published on 19th November 2013,” he explained. “Both of the tariff notices were signed by the Acting Director General of the Department of Transport and therefore have equal but conflicting weight”
Thanks to the government gazette being published in PDF format (grrr) it took us a while to find the discrepancy we think Dembovsky is referring to. While the actual tables for charges are identical in both the English and Afrikaans version, there are some missing references in the Afrikaans explanatory notes relating to time of day charges.
The big cock-up, though, is right at the start of the document. In English, section 3.2 reads:
In respect of an e-toll transaction-
…
3.2.3 a registered VLN user pays the tariff set out in Column 5 of Table 1 for the particular class of motor vehicle; and
3.2.4 an alternate user pays the tariff set out in Column 6 of Table 1 for the particular class of motor vehicle.
The Afrikaans translation, however, reads:
Ten opsigte ‘n e-toltransaksie-
….
3.2.3 ‘n geregistreerde VLN gebruiker betaal die taried soos in Kolom 4 van Tabel 1 uiteengesit, vir die besondere klas van motorvoertuig; en
3.2.4 ‘n alternatiewe gebruiker betaal die tarief soos in Kolom 5 van Tabel 1…
The tables themselves, however are correctly labelled as below.
Unfortunately all the lawyers we know have packed up for Christmas already, so we’re not entirely sure how big a problem this is. On the face of it, though, it looks like JPSA is right – while it looks a lot like a minor typo, the legal ramifications are pretty big.
Is it a serious issue for SANRAL and will it stop you paying eTolls for the time being? Share your thoughts below.
(Via SAPA)
