Gauteng’s e-toll gantries, which cost some R465 million a pop, have continued to monitor motorists since their billing features were shut down in April 2024.
However, what is being done with this information remains unclear.
In late 2024, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi revealed that the provincial govenment took over all the CCTV cameras of the e-toll gantries, gaining access to the speed and vehicle tracking technologies of these systems.
At the time, it sounded like the provincial government had made good on its promise to start using the expensive infrastructure for crime prevention purposes.
Now around six months down the line, we thought to check in with the authorities in charge of e-tolls to find out how effective they’ve been in upholding the law.
While our requests to the Gauteng government fell on deaf ears, those to the National Roads Agency (Sanral) were answered.
In response to emailed queries, Siveshni Pillay, Traffic Engineer at Sanral, revealed that the toll gantries are still recording vehicle data, which is subsequently supplied to law enforcement agencies for “road safety purposes.”
However, she said that average speed over distance enforcement, one of Sanral’s suggested uses for the infrastructure, has not been implemented yet.
When asked if the e-tolls are being used for something other than speed monitoring, Pillay noted that various potential projects and road safety initiatives are being investigated for the gantries, the details of which will be “communicated in due course.”
Tender documents from 2022 show that Sanral has various plans in store for the e-toll systems, including:
- Data monetization
- Account-based ticketing
- Enforcing speed over distance violations
- Weigh-in motion enforcement on highways
- Vehicle and driver’s licence issuing or renewal
- Using the Sanral mobile app to manage accounts
- Enabling road users to transact using e-tags on the Transaction Clearing House system
- Assisting the South African Police Service and other enforcement agencies with crime intelligence
At the time, it said these proposed services would be implemented over the next six to eight years.
Finding a new purpose
The brains behind e-tolls are vying to repurpose them to pay off the R43 billion in debt they incurred over the years they were active.
After the billing feature of e-tolls were shut down for good in April of last year, the Gauteng government and National Treasury agreed to share the debt 30/70, leaving the former with a bill of R13 billion and the latter R30 billion.
The province also took on around R4 billion in additional maintenance fees.
Gauteng has already made its first payment of R3.8 billion towards its portion of the outstanding monies, with the remaining payments to be made in four equal annual instalments.
Sharp minds might have noticed that this will equal R19 billion when all is said and done, with the R2 billion imbalance being chalked up to the interest included in the original deal.
With fears that the debt could take a toll on service delivery in South Africa’s most populous province, Gauteng authorities promised they are working on a so-called “revenue enhancement strategy” through which the profits made from upgrading and improving existing infrastructure will be put towards paying off e-tolls.
One proposal is the upcoming Gautrain Phase 2 expansion, which will theoretically boost economic activity and generate revenue that can be channeled back towards the loan repayment.
Repurposing the e-toll gantries for law enforcement could also assist in boosting revenue through traffic fines.
Additionally, the Department of Transport has indicated a willingness to pursue motorists who boycotted the system so as to recoup some of its losses.
“In terms of the law, the motorists are still obligated to pay [their historic e-toll debts],” said ex-Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga during a press briefing in April 2024.
“On how we will enforce or not enforce, that is a matter we have not discussed, we will be tending to that as time goes on.”
Thus far, suggested methods include blacklisting individuals with outstanding sums to affect their credit scores, withholding new driver’s licenses, or garnishing wages and seizing personal property.
The outstanding amount owed by motorists eclipses R6 billion, according to Mampho Modise, Head of Public Finance at National Treasury, which would cover around a third of Gauteng’s arrears.
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