"Either the DA [Democratic Alliance] can't read the documents we sent to them or they are being mischievous," the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) spokesperson Vusi Mona said on Monday.
"In case of the former, we shall be patient and help the DA to understand and navigate its way through the voluminous documents we gave them last week," he said.
Mona said it was disappointing the DA made the claim without seeking clarity from Sanral.
He said Sanral gave the DA documentation relating to the implementation of e-tolling in Gauteng at its request.
In a statement on Monday, the DA said the documents it obtained from Sanral indicated that the funds would go towards sending SMSes, emails, faxes, letters and making calls to clients' landlines and cellphones.
Mona said the amounts quoted by the DA referred to provisional sums in Sanral's contract with the service provider.
An amount of R427.2-million was the provisional sum Sanral could pay, in the worst case scenario, for communication to e-toll account holders and transgressors.
Administration costs
"However, we can see that at this stage, registration trends show that less than 1% of account holders have indicated that they would like to receive their invoices by mail. The majority have opted for paperless options … This means Sanral will end up spending far less of the provisional figure than projected," said Mona.
The services listed in the contract, for which the provisional sum was provided, were procured in terms of the Public Finance Management Act.
"The DA also omitted to indicate that the current toll tariff structure, which has been published in the media many times before, makes provision for violations.
"An increased toll tariff [alternative user toll fee], which is a higher toll fee, becomes applicable should a road user not pay within the seven days grace period.
"This allows for the additional administration costs to be absorbed and it also avoids a situation where compliant users subsidise non-compliant users," said Mona.
DA MP Ian Ollis said it believed e-tolls would not benefit Gauteng motorists.
"[We have] already successfully halted Sanral's plans to toll highways where we govern in the Western Cape, and [we are] prepared to take the fight to the Constitutional Court if we have to," he said.
Advertising bill
Meanwhile, Sanral is set to spend R85-million this year on advertising its controversial e-tolling plans in Gauteng, according to Transport Minister Dipuo Peters.
"The South African National Roads Agency Limited has a budgeted amount of R85-million … which will be used for both the alternative sources of funding campaigns as well as corporate campaigns," she said in a written reply to a parliamentary question, tabled on August 19.
An amount of R23.3-million had been spent to date.
Peters was responding to a question – posed by Ollis – on how much the roads agency "is planning to spend on advertising relating to the e-toll system in Gauteng".
The minister's reply shows the agency's spending on advertising rose sharply after 2009/10. In that year, it spent R6.4-million on "print and broadcasting advertising alternative sources of funding campaign".
In 2010/11, 2011/12, and last year (2012/13), it spent totals of R30.4-million, R84.5-million and R87.1-million respectively on campaigns and advertising. – Sapa