The Democratic Alliance (DA) has confirmed the date for its court case challenging the passing of the controversial e-tolling bill as March 4, referring to the legislature as “unconstitutional” and a form of “job-killing taxation”.
HumanIPO reported in November the DA had submitted a legal challenge against e-tolling, which launched in December but faces continuing opposition.
Both the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (OUTA) and the Freedom Front Plus have already failed in having e-tolling overturned through the courts.
The DA announced the date of the court case yesterday as it released the preview of its 2014 election manifesto, with Mmusi Maimane, DA premier candidate for Gauteng, saying the party would “fight against the unjust taxation of Gauteng residents through e-tolling”.
Maimane said if the party wins the legal battle “the matter will automatically be referred to the Constitutional Court where the e-tolling bill may be declared unconstitutional”.
He said the legislation was incorrectly handled due to the fact it was erroneously tagged as a Section 76 Bill, resulting in it not being deliberated by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).
As a result the Gauteng provincial government did not deal with the bill.
“We believe the Transport Laws and Related Matters Amendment Bill (e-tolling bill) was wrongfully tagged as a national competency to be dealt with exclusively at a national level by Parliament,” said Maimane.
He said if it were declared unconstitutional the National Assembly would have to hold another vote on the bill after which the process would need to be repeated in each province as well as the by the NCOP.
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