HERMAN Mashaba was "possibly just playing to the gallery" when he warned that Johannesburg’s metro police will not be allowed to harass motorists about e-tolls‚ the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) said on Wednesday.
In his inaugural speech as Johannesburg mayor on Tuesday Mashaba‚ said: "In our city there will be no co-operation between JMPD [Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department] and Sanral on e-tolls and I have received a commitment from the JMPD that there will be no harassment of our motorists about outstanding e-toll payments."
Sanral’s Vusi Mona hit back‚ saying Mashaba "is new in his job and thus possibly does not understand that e-tolling is a national function and municipal officials have no say over them whatsoever".
Mona added in a statement: "We do not have an agreement with the JMPD to enforce e-tolls and never have. In any case‚ it would be silly to have one as there is no legal requirement to have an e-tag. We‚ too‚ do not check on e-tags. We have no reason to.
"The issue of e-tags has become politicised and reason flies out of the window when the word is used."
The Sanral statement said an investigation it had ordered by "an independent auditing firm" had found "not a single instance of the JMPD checking for e-tags".
"This rumour has now become an urban myth perpetuated by those with an anti-government or anti-e-toll agenda‚" Mona said.
"The mayor was possibly just playing to the gallery — nonetheless Sanral will continue assisting the city in a spirit of co-operative governance — just like it is currently doing with the upgrading of the M1."
TMG Digital
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