Minister of Transport welcomes the judgment by the Cape High Court regarding e-tolling legislation
Transport Minister Ms Dipuo Peters has noted and welcomes the judgment handed down by the Cape High Court on the matter regarding the Transport Laws and Related Matters Amendment Bill.
Minister Peters believes that this is a further vindication of government’s long held position that there’s nothing that we didn’t do according to law in the introduction and implementation of the electronic tolling system on at least 201 kilometers of some parts of highways in the Gauteng province.
“It must be noted by all that we have been to various courts on this matter of e-tolling wherein various aspects of the process were queried. In all these processes the judiciary found that there was nothing untoward or illegal about the processes followed by government and/or its agencies,” says Minister Peters.
The Minister has called on all parties concerned to observe, respect and protect the independence of our judicial system by not continuing to question processes even after courts have pronounced on them.
“The independence of our judiciary and our country’s jurisprudence in general are sacrosanct and form the basic cornerstones of our democracy. We should therefore at all times desist from being seen to be undermining these basic tenets in pursuit of our own personal objectives. While we respect individuals’ and organised formations’ right to access justice, we have a responsibility to welcome and respect outcomes of judicial processes even if they do not favour us,” says Minister Peters.
The Minister says the people of Gauteng and other visitors to the province should be given an opportunity to appreciate the convenience brought by the upgrading of the road network in question. She emphasises that the country’s needs for infrastructure cannot be turned into a political game where political parties hijack genuine challenges for narrow, selfish interests. With a road infrastructure backlog of about 150 billion rand, Minister Peters says the nations needs to rally behind government’s policies and programmes to ensure that we come up with lasting solutions that would ensure better services for all.
“Misinformation campaigns and other means have been exhausted in trying to dissuade citizens from complying with laws of the Republic and contribute towards the building of a better country. Despite all these attempts, we have seen more and more people registering for e-tolling. We wish to thank those who have registered for their cooperation. We urge those who still remain unregistered to do so in order for them to enjoy the discounts associated with e-toll registration,” concludes Minister Peters.
The Minister has once again requested those affected by billing challenges experienced by the service provider responsible for managing the system to come forward and lodge their complaints with SANRAL. She says the parties involved are working round the clock to ensure that these challenges are resolved.
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