Parliament welcomes the decision of the North Gauteng High Court to strike from the roll an application from the Tolhek Aksiegroep, an alliance led by the Freedom Front Plus, to stop e-tolling on Gauteng highways.
The matter was placed on the urgent court roll for 2 December. Upon hearing the merits for the urgency of the matter, Judge Maria Jansen scrapped the matter from the court roll for lack of urgency. She refrained from making a punitive costs order.
The application had sought to have declared invalid in its entirety the Transport Laws and Related Matters Amendment Act of 2013 for want of compliance with procedures set out in the sections 76 and 77 of the Constitution.
Judge Jansen agreed with counsel for the respondents that the Tolhek Aksiegroep was unable to prove that the harm that would occur if the tolling went ahead was enough to warrant the court’s intrusion into the rightful domain of the Executive.
Parliament’s National Assembly Speaker and National Council of Provinces Chairperson were cited as sixth and seventh respondents.
