Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has just barred SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) - which has summonsed thousands of Gauteng motorists for non-payment of e-tolls - from arguing 55 cases in court. Outa claims the Roads Agency has not followed court procedures and deadlines. Sanral will now have to restart court procedings from scratch. Further complicating matters is the issue of prescription, as some of this e-toll debt is now more than three years old and therefore may not be payable.

SA National Roads Agency's (SANRAL) has failed in its appeal against a High Court decision issued last year blocking it from launching road tolling on the Cape Winelands route. It seems SANRAL's legal troubles are getting worse, and as the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse has laid charges of perjury against former CEO, Nazir Alli.

A new draft bill gazetted by the Democratic Alliance proposes giving provinces a say over whether roads are to be tolled or not. This comes amid public outcry over the SA National Roads Agency and its unsuccessful attempt to bulldoze Gauteng motorists into paying e-tolls. Opponents say e-tolls were implemented unlawfully and without proper public consultation. The ruling ANC may find itself torn over support for this bill. To come out in favour of Sanral and e-tolls with presidential elections just two years away could be political suicide.

When will SA National Roads Agency acknowledge that much of its e-tolls debt is unrecoverable?

Lawyers are raking in fees from the blizzard of summonses issued by the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) over the non-payment of e-tolls. The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), which is fighting e-tolls, has its own legal team to defend the summonses, and has brought in one of the top legal minds in the country, Gilbert Marcus SC, to prepare for the court battle that lies ahead. This is likely to drag out for years, and could clog the court system. 

SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) is threatening to issue summonses against motorists who refuse to pay their e-tolls. This probably signals the end of the e-tolls system. Some of the best legal minds in the country are lining up to defend Gauteng motorists against Sanral with the aim of sinking this ill-begotten scheme.

A new study shows that the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) overpaid by R10bn or 321% when compared with other roads projects completed around the world. There is something grossly wrong with Sanral's road construction, for which Gauteng motorists are being repeatedly flogged. 

The ANC is trying to put lipstick on the e-tolls pig, even going to the extent of insulting the estimated 90% of Gauteng motorists who have decided not to pay their e-tolls. This is a mistake the government may come to regret, particularly as local government elections are around the corner.

Etolls are nearing the end of the highway. As predicted, monthly revenue is down to R60 million while bond repayment obligations are R260 million a monthy. This is a situation which cannot survive.

Government has misjudged the level of public opposition to e-tolling, despite its ridiculous claim that e-tolls are not unpopular. It seems most people will continue to refuse paying the tolls that were foisted on them.

Attempts by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to put fresh lipstick on this pig called e-tolls are doomed to fail. South Africans have had enough of e-tolls, Eskom, Nkandla and anything else this government is trying to sell, according to Neels Blom writing in Business Day.

Has the ANC in Gauteng fudged the e-tolls investigation it completed last year? Judging by its efforts to bring in a "hybrid" form of tolling, the answer is yes. The DA has now called for a referendum into the future of the blighted e-tolls system.

The ANC in Gauteng, with one eye on the electoral hammering it is likely to suffer by backing e-tolls, has broken with the national ANC. Meanwhile the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (OUTA) says a growing number of Gauteng drivers are "de-tagging" themselves. It's safe to say that e-tolls' days are numbered. 

Public consultations into the future of e-tolling wrapped up last week with virtually unanimous agreement that the current user-pays system was not working and had to be replaced. Some Gauteng residents compared it to the hated apartheid-era pass book system.

Cracks are starting to appear in the ANC's commitment to e-tolls and the effect these are having on Gauteng's economic growth. There is a growing fear the e-tolls issue will hurt the party's performance in local government elections in 2016, according to the Saturday Star.

Just 25% of Gauteng freeway users have e-tags, and several court challenges are lining up to test whether SANRAL has acted legally in bringing this massively expensive solution to the residents of Gauteng. It doesn't help SANRAL's case that hundreds of instances of mis-billing are being reported.