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The civil rights organisation, AfriForum, has, as next step in its campaign against the controversial e-toll system, applied to be allowed as friend of the court (amicus curiae) in the Constitutional Court case in which Government appeals against the interdict granted by the North Gauteng High Court against the implementation of the e-toll system in Gauteng. AfriForum’s court papers have already been served on all parties involved in this case.

According to Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, his organisation would like to ensure with this step that additional information will be presented to the court, which will prove clearly that Government is wrong when alleging that the interdict against e-toll amounts to the Court infringing on the right of Government to formulate policy. No court dictates government policy, but when the implementation of any policy violates the stipulations of the Constitution or existing legislation, the Court has a clear constitutional mandate to ensure that the Constitution and legislation will be respected and maintained,” Kriel said.

Kriel emphasised that Government should rather ensure that the policy which it implements does not disregard the Constitution and legislation. “Government endangers the supremacy of the law by constantly making courts the scapegoat for Government’s own disregard for legislation,” Kriel added.

AfriForum, by mouth of Kriel, once again called on road users to await the outcome of the pending court cases before deciding whether to register for e-toll at all. According to Kriel, AfriForum will not register vehicles used for the organisation’s activities for e-toll. “If enough motorists do not register in protest against the system, it will force Sanral to reconsider the cost-effectiveness of e-toll as a collection mechanism,” Kriel stated.