Where the Money Really Goes
Transport minister Joe Maswanganyi recently revealed that Sanral has collected R2.9 billion in e‑toll fees since December 2013. According to OUTA’s calculations, the Austrian‑owned toll collection company, Electronic Toll Collection (ETC), has pocketed R2.2 billion — a staggering 74% of all revenue.
In 2016, Austrian road group Kapsch TrafficCom acquired full control of ETC by buying out its local partner TMT. Since then, every rand collected through e‑tolls flows directly to Kapsch.
Sanral once claimed that only 17c of every rand would go to the collection company — but OUTA’s analysis shows the opposite: the system is financially unsustainable and overwhelmingly benefits a foreign operator.
A System in Decline
OUTA notes that compliance continues to fall year after year. ETC receives an average of R55 million per month, while total e‑toll income is around R63 million. This means virtually no money is going toward repaying the e‑toll bonds — the original purpose of the system.
OUTA chairman Wayne Duvenage also accuses Sanral of masking its financial distress by reflecting all invoices at the discounted rate rather than the punitive rate that applies to non‑registered users.
“At the discounted value, Sanral is still owed around R9.2 billion as of March 2017.”
— Wayne Duvenage, OUTA
Massive Non‑Payment by Motorists
Parliamentary reports show that only 30% of e‑toll invoices issued over a 24‑month period were paid. More than 1.8 billion invoices were generated — and over 1.3 billion (71%) remain unpaid.
This confirms what OUTA has long argued: the system is rejected by the majority of Gauteng motorists and is financially unviable.
