The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) has unleashed a fiery statement against Sanral on Wednesday after the group were left apoplectic by their plans to halt e-toll dodgers.

Sanral made their proposals to the Parliamentary Committee on Transport on Tuesday 16th October, which included strict punitive measures for drivers who aren’t paying the fees and a convoluted plan to wrangle SARS into their collection schemes. Here’s what they tabled at the National Assembly:

Sanral proposals to collect e-toll money:

Withhold vehicle licenses for those with e-toll debt

Not paying your way? Sanral CEO Skhumbuzo Macozoma reckons this is grounds for having your license taken away from you. Repeat offenders would have their cases referred to a higher authority and find themselves suspended from driving until all e-toll debts are cleared.

OUTA blasted this idea as “ludicrous and illegal”, and vowed to take legal action against the department if their proposal made it through Parliament.

Block future car sales and insurance policies for offenders

Another aggressive measure for forcing motorists to cough-up would be to take away their financial freedoms. Macozoma told Parly that Sanral would consider putting a block on an offender’s ability to sell their motor, or even buy themselves an insurance policy.

OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage sank his teeth into this one, scoffing at the practicalities of the proposal:

“This will be virtually impossible to introduce and OUTA will challenge this legally as well as wage a consumer movement to boycott insurance companies who seek to introduce such ludicrous practices and policies into their contracts with motorists.” – Wayne Duvenage.

Use SARS agents to chase down outstanding fees

Probably the most far-fetched of the lot would be this one. Sanral also suggested that they could get the South African Revenue Service (SARS) on board to help hunt down the debt. Given that the department is already stretched to its limits, this wouldn’t exactly be a welcome workload for them.

Sanral’s Homer Simpson-inspired “can’t someone else do it?” approach went down like a lead balloon with OUTA. They label this brainstorm as “extremely difficult and complex”, and were once again bemused by Macozoma’s presentation.

OUTA’s message for Sanral

The tax-busters weren’t finished there, either. They concluded their address by demanding that Gauteng road users stop paying their e-tolls:

“OUTA now calls on the last remaining people and businesses who make up the 25% of Gauteng Freeway users who continue to keep the e-toll system on life support to stop paying.” “The handful of companies who appear to be afraid to cross swords with Government are the main reason that the e-toll scheme continues to limp along, with approximately R60 million income per month that is barely managing to cover the collection process.”

Worried about getting on the wrong side of the law? You shouldn’t be. OUTA have even gone as far to say that they’ll gladly explain a motorist’s rights to them should they choose to heed this call for rebellion.