Motorists should get ready for e-tolling on Gauteng highways by obtaining e-tags, the roads agency Sanral said on Sunday.

“With the introduction of e-tolling on some highways in Gauteng set to start in the near future, motorists [should] get their e-tags and register for payment without delay,” Sanral spokesman Vusi Mona said in a statement.

“Motorists should not be confused by court actions currently underway,” he said, adding that e-tolling in Gauteng was no longer legally disputed.

“The legality of open road tolling in Gauteng was settled by the constitutional court when it lifted, in September last year, the interim interdict preventing Sanral from implementing e-tolling in Gauteng.”

The e-tolls have been criticised by a number of organisations, including trade union federation Cosatu.

Civil society group Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) has fought a lengthy court battle to prevent the implementation of e-tolling. The high court in Pretoria granted Outa leave to appeal its dismissal of the civil group’s application to have e-tolling scrapped, and this will be heard by the supreme court of appeal in Bloemfontein in September.

Mona said the e-tag, would be fitted to a windscreen, and would automatically deduct the toll fee when the vehicle passed beneath an overhead toll gantry.

“Open road tolling means that there will be no plazas on the road which slow down traffic or result in long queues.”

Mona said there were already more than 40 000 e-toll account holders using e-tags at N1/N4 Bakwena toll plazas. — Sapa