Sanral has prepared 6 286 summonses in a bid to recover R6.2bn in outstanding e-toll debt from Gauteng motorists, notes a Business Day report. Sanral is also gearing up for its legal fight with Outa over an e-toll test case that could provide final clarity on how the user-pays principle should be applied.

Sanral spokesperson Vusi Mona confirmed Sanral had prepared the summonses as part of its efforts to recoup the money owed to it. He also said: ‘In the interests of certainty, we would like to see this (e-toll test case) happen sooner rather than later.’ Outa chairperson Wayne Duvenage said the e-toll test case, which pertained specifically to the organisation’s members, was all but inevitable. Since June 2016, Outa and Sanral lawyers have been in discussions about the feasibility of a test case for the non-payment of e-tolls. ‘It is not in our or Sanral’s interest that this drags on,’ said Duvenage. Pieter Conradie, of Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, said the Outa case was likely to go a long way in settling the user-pays principle.

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