As of March 1, R543-million worth of Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project e-toll invoices had been transferred to the South African National Roads Agency’s Violations Processing Centre (VPC), with only R50-million, or 9.21%, of these having been paid, Transport Minister Dipuo Peters said in a Parliamentary reply on Tuesday.

Responding to questions posed by the Democratic Alliance the Minister said that these figures represented the nominal value of e-toll transactions, excluding value-added tax (VAT).

Peters also revealed that, as at February 28, an amount of R54.7-million, excluding VAT, had been expended in the collection of the debt.

This amount included R32.8-million for postage and printing of invoices, which was required in terms of legislation, she said, adding that “the cost of debt collection processes is, therefore, R21.95-million, which is 4% of the [R543-million] revenue and 44% of cash generated in the VPC to date”.