Gauteng’s motorists can breathe a sigh of relief as the government has approved the closure of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project’s (GFIP’s) historical debt.
The decision was made by South Africa’s cabinet, and welcomed by Transport Minister Barbara Creecy and her deputy, Mkhuleko Hlengwa.
The decision includes the close-out of GFIP historical e-toll debt, as well as the resolution of all outstanding litigation matters.
Creecy and Hlengwa noted that the decision is a long-awaited step to close the GFIP e-toll matter in an “orderly and responsible manner”.
The Minister and Deputy Minister stated that the closure brings much-needed relief and lessens the financial burden to road users who are currently hard-pressed by high fuel costs.
The GFIP was initially implemented and operated under the South African National Roads Agency SOC Limited (Sanral), with the e-toll system introduced to fund an upgraded Gauteng freeway network.
The closure of the debt follows the closing of the gantries two years ago.
The withdrawal of the GFIP toll declarations became effective on 11 April 2024.
Cabinet’s approval confirms that outstanding and unpaid historical GFIP e-toll debt owed by road users will be written off.
It further mentioned that because of the write-off, Sanral will not pursue any further collection of historical GFIP e-toll debt.
However, it did add that road users who lawfully paid e-tolls while the system was legally in force would not be refunded.
“The no-refund position arises from lawful levies at the time they were paid, that is, before the toll declarations were withdrawn,” it said.
“The write-off of outstanding debt gives effect to the government’s decision to close the GFIP e-toll scheme and provide finality to road users, Sanral and the fiscus.”
Government explained that the GFIP e-toll debt close-out is intended to provide certainty and resolve historical debt matters.
The decision also aims to support a sustainable approach to the funding, maintenance and improvement of South Africa’s national road network.
It emphasised that the user-pay principle remains an important part of South Africa’s road infrastructure funding framework.
“It is broadly accepted by road users through negotiation and agreement, appropriately structured, legally sound and supported by clear policy certainty,” the government declared.
E-toll gantries not going anywhere
When Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi announced that e-tolls would be shut down, it was confirmed that Sanral services and gantries would remain in place.
The overhead gantries were only delinked for e-tolling purposes, with equipment, including the CCTV cameras, still operational.
A Sanral tender document issued in 2022 suggested that the e-toll infrastructure could be repurposed to serve as average-speed-over-distance checkpoints and a surveillance system for tracking stolen vehicles.
The government has since taken over control of the province’s e-toll CCTV network, which was previously managed by Sanral.
This system is currently being used for information collection purposes only and will not result in speeding fines being issued.
It also allows Sanral to detect cloned number plates by monitoring the location of a plate and seeing whether it shows up in two different locations.
At the time, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi told Eyewitness News the local government had taken over and integrated Sanral’s e-toll CCTV network to broaden its crime-fighting efforts in the province.
“They are part of our portfolio of CCTV cameras. There is some technology that is there on speed and tracking lost cars, we have been given access to that,” he said.
“We have also been given access to their command centre; we have permanent law enforcement agents that are in the command centre.”
The Premier confirmed that authorities have been able to clear a backlog of cases thanks to the information available on the surveillance system.
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