While taxi drivers and policemen are among those who will not have to pay e-tolls when the system goes live, the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) has yet to agree on how exemptions can be applied for the disabled - if at all.
This comes in response to concerns raised by the QuadPara Association of SA (QASA), which says Gauteng's disabled contingent will be at a disadvantage when motorists' willingness and generosity dissipates with the onset of e-tolling in the province.
Ari Seirlis, CEO of QASA, recently said that - despite numerous engagements with Sanral on how the disabled will be factored in when it comes to the road agency's plan to exempt certain vehicles and users from paying for the use of Gauteng's highways - the association had been ignored.
Describing the plight of the disabled in the open-road tolling story, Seirlis said: "Our point is simply that 95% of people with mobility impairment will not own vehicles. Never have and never will. We have always relied on the goodwill of [able-bodied] motorists to take us from point A to point B - in exchange for a R10 here and a R20 there.
"The bus rapid transport system is not accessible and the Gautrain is too expensive. Now the cost of using the roads is rising and our constituency will be truly paralysed - not by disability, but by the fact that the goodwill of people will disappear as they won't want to move us around anymore."
Sanral spokesperson Vusi Mona confirms previous liaisons with QASA around exemptions for the disabled, but says "we have unfortunately not reached consensus on the issue of how exemptions can be applied for their members".
While he did not say why, or whether QASA's plea for exemption is being considered, Mona says the Sanral Act does allow for applications for categories of vehicles and users to apply for exemptions. "Applications will be considered on their merits. Sanral can continue to engage with QuadPara in terms of [the application process]."
Seirlis QASA will renew discussions with Sanral and - if the agency can prove the contingency will be safe from what he believes will induce poverty among SA's disabled - the group will support the system.
If not, he says, a number of options are open to the lobby group, including approaching the Equality Court and Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities - and even public protest.
"Do we mobilise [if our voices are not heard?] I don't know - but that could be an interesting option. We have seen the Congress of SA Trade Unions bring traffic to a standstill. I wonder what the highways would look like with a thousand wheelchair users in the streets."
The following categories of vehicles will be exempted from the payment of e-tolls:
* SA Police Services vehicles;
* SSA National Defence Force vehicles;
* Metro Police vehicles for the Tshwane, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni metropolitan areas;
* Emergency vehicles, including ambulance services and fire brigade vehicles; and
* Qualifying commuter public transport.
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