Justice Project notes with concern e-toll threats by Sanral despite it being “sub-judice”

Justice Project South Africa has noted that SANRAL has again deployed its Chief Financial Officer; Ms Helga Mulder to threaten motorists with prosecution for the non-payment of e-tolls, despite the fact that e-tolling is currently under review by the Gauteng Provincial Government.

An article which appeared on Moneyweb on Monday 27 October 2014 bears testimony to the mechanics SANRAL intends using in furthering these criminal prosecutions, which it has waited for more than 7 months after the first prosecutions should have begun in April 2014. SANRAL has thereby created an enormous amount of prejudice, both in the monies allegedly outstanding to it and the quantum of individuals that will have to be prosecuted for non-payment of e-tolls.

On 1 September 2014, JPSA presented its submission to the Gauteng e-tolls review panel, warning of the socioeconomic disaster for South Africa as a whole that will ensue out of successful criminal prosecutions for non-payment of e-tolls but it would appear that SANRAL doesn’t much care what happens to the economy of South Africa if they are successful in creating a high volume of artificial criminals. It is still somewhat debatable whether SANRAL will be successful in prosecuting cases of the non-payment of e-tolls, but only a court will prove whether they will or will not.

The 2 cases currently undergoing prosecution must not be confused with prosecutions for non-payment of e-tolls, despite the fact that SANRAL has chosen to conflate these 2 cases with fraud charges applicable to e-tolling. Falsifying and defacing number plates are criminal offences under the National Road Traffic Act. Falsified number plates would ordinarily be prosecuted under the criminal charge of fraud, with charges under the National Road Traffic Act forming alternative charges.

The case of the former Deputy Chief of the Tshwane Metropolitan Police Department, Ndumiso Jaca, who fitted the same false number plates to a BMW Z4 and a Harley Davidson motorcycle which was instituted in 2011 is still ongoing. This matter is being heard in the Pretoria Regional Magistrates Court; the same court that the matter against Dr Stoyan Hristov Stoychev is being heard.

When it comes to the prosecution of motorists for the non-payment of e-tolls, the matter is not nearly as clear-cut as someone falsifying or defacing number plates and prosecuting the 2 clearly criminal matters cited by SANRAL is a far cry from prosecuting hundreds of thousands, if not over a million individuals for non-payment of e-tolls.

If SANRAL is planning to violate the Constitution by selecting a few “choice matters” to prosecute in the hope that they can scare others into submission, they need to be aware of the fact that this will not simply be overlooked. If they are successful in prosecuting large volumes of e-tolls “offenders”, they will create an environment of unemployable artificial criminals and will, as a result, cripple the economy of South Africa.

JPSA takes a very dim view of the repeated threats of prosecution by SANRAL, despite the fact that a supposedly democratic process is currently underway. In our view, this acutely demonstrates the fact that neither SANRAL nor the Department of Transport are in any way interested in listening to what citizens, political parties and other organisations think and have absolutely no intention of deviating from their plans to persist with e-tolls, regardless of whether they are efficient in getting the job done or not.

Best Regards,

;

Howard Dembovsky

National Chairman – Justice Project South Africa (NPC)

Justice Project notes with concern e-toll threats by Sanral despite it being “sub-judice”

Vehicle sales numbers surprise in September despite challenging economic environment

“Despite the surprisingly better than expected sales results for September, the fundamentals have not changed, the economic outlook is still not looking positive, the rand continues to weaken which will undoubtedly continue to drive above-inflation new car increases. As expected, the export market continues to outshine the rest of the industry and this trend will continue for the remainder of 2014.”

 

General Comments on September 2014 NAAMSA sales:

• The month of September 2014 experienced a 9.26% increase in sales compared to August 2014.


• Month on Month only Passenger (13.10%) and Light Commercial Vehicles (1.70%) experienced positive growth.


• Year on Year monthly comparison shows an increase of 11.51% in September 2014 compared to September 2013.


• Year to date (January – September 2014) comparisons shows that vehicle sales are down by -2.5% in the first 9 months of the year when compared to last year.


• Month on month Exports decreased in September (-6.7%) with Passenger vehicles increasing by 13.8% and Light Commercial Vehicles growing by 42.1%.


• Year on year monthly comparison shows an improvement in exports of 257.9% in September 2014 compared to September 2013.


• AMH & AAD saw an increase in September 2014, 6.3% month on month.

General Comments on September 2014 Standard Bank VAF Personal Applications:

• In September 2014 applications for new vehicles experienced negative month on month growth of -1.1% while applications for used vehicles had negative month on month growth of -2.9%.


• Year on year monthly comparison on applications shows a decline in both new (-34.0%) and used (-1.4%) vehicle market applications in September 2014 compared to September 2013.


• Applications in both Passenger Vehicles (-2.5%) and Light Commercial Vehicles (-2.3%) in the Personal market had negative month on month growth in September 2014.


•  Year on year monthly comparison shows positive growth for both Passenger Vehicles (0.8%) while Light Commercial Vehicles had negative growth (-3.1%) in September 2014.


• The proportion of applications with RV’s increased to 19.7% in September 2014 from 19.2% in August 2014. However, month on month applications with RV’s declined by 2.0%.


• The proportion of applications with deposits decreased to 33.3% in September 2014 from 39.2% in August 2014. Applications with deposits declined by -17.0% month on month.


• The Average Contract Term on applications increased from 67.0 months to 68.5 months (September 2013 to September 2014), year on year growth of 2.4%.


• The average application size increased from R189 755 in September 2013 to R209 865 in September 2014, a 10.6% year on year increase.

General Comments on September 2014 Standard Bank VAF Personal New Business:

• In September 2014 new business experienced negative month on month growth in new vehicle markets of -12.5% while the used vehicle markets had positive month on month growth of 9.1%.


• New business year on year comparisons shows a decline in both new (-34.3%) and used (-19.6%) vehicle markets in September 2014 compared to September 2013.


• Passenger vehicles had negative month on month growth of -11.5% while Light Commercial vehicles had negative growth of -4.2%.


•  Year on year monthly comparison shows a decline for both Passenger Vehicles (-15.5%) and Light Commercial Vehicles (-18.2%) in September 2014 compared to September 2013.


• The proportion of new business deals with deposits decreased to 43.3% in September 2014 from 45.5% in August 2014 (0.7% month on month decline and -44.1% year on year increase).


• The proportion of new business deals with RV’s stayed the same at 25.6% between August and September 2014. New business deals with RV’s declined month on month by -2.7% and -28.7% year on year.


• The Average Contract Term increased from 64.5 months in September 2013 to 66.2 months in September 2014 (2.7% year on year growth).


• The average deal size increased from R260 966 in September 2013 to R288 606 in September 2014, a 10.6% year on year increase.

General Comments on Standard Bank Personal VAF Book:

• Personal Market book shows new vehicle market decreased from 57.5% in September 2013 to 55.8% in September 2014, while used vehicle market increased from 42.5% in September 2013 to 44.2% in September 2014.


• Passenger Vehicles marginally increased from 89.2% in September 2013 to 88.7% in September 2014 while Light Commercial Vehicles increased from 10.3% in September 2013 to 10.8% in September 2014.

Nicholas Nkosi – Head of Standard Bank Vehicle and Asset Finance – Personal Markets

General Macro and Industry Comments:

• The SARB left the repo rate unchanged at 5.75% following its September MPC meeting. The outcome was in line with the industry’s forecast. According to Standard Bank this was based on the SARB’s revised forecasts for headline inflation.


• Headline annual inflation rate (CPI) in August 2014 was 6,4%.  This rate was 0.1 of a percentage point higher than the corresponding annual rate of 6.3% in July 2014. On average, prices increased by 0.4% between July 2014 and August 2014. Transport index increased by 0.4% between July 2014 and August 2014. The annual rate decreased to 6.1% in August 2014 from 6,9% in July 2014.


• The SARB expects headline CPI inflation to average 6.2% in 2014, falling to 5.7% in 2015 and 5.8% in 2016, as opposed to their forecast in July of 6.3%, 5.9% and 5.6% in the respective years. Inflation was revised lower due to lower expected food and petrol prices.


• The change in the SARB’s outlook for inflation is significant in that they no longer expect inflation to peak in Q4:14, and estimate that the peak has already happened, in Q2:14 at 6.5% y/y.


• In addition, the length of time that the SARB expects inflation to remain outside of the target band has shortened, they expect it will fall below 6.0% in Q1:15 as opposed to in Q2:15.


• Growth was also revised lower, from 1.7%, 2.9% and 3.2% y/y in 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively to 1.5%, 2.8% and 3.1%. Standard Bank expects GDP for 2015 and 2016 to continue to disappoint to the downside. The SARB has lowered its growth forecast for 2014 successively at each of the last 6 meetings (starting from 3.3% at the September 2013 meeting).


• Fuel prices have risen by 0.5% in petrol (inland) and dropped by -3.2% in diesel (inland) since Jan 2014 to October 2014. Further, the price of fuel in the country has gone up by 28.8% in petrol and up by 21.2% in diesel since Jan 2012.


• The price of 93 Octane Petrol will be increasing by 2 cents from the 1^st of October 2014. The price of 95 Octane fuel will be decreasing by 5 cents while both grades of Diesel will see a drop of 13 cents.

Fuel Types

• In the month of August 2014, Petrol vehicle sales had negative month on month growth (-5.6%) while Diesel vehicle sales had positive month on month (1.0%).


• Year on Year August 2014 versus August 2013 Petrol vehicles declined by -2.1% while Diesel vehicles declined by -0.1%.


• Year on Year YTD comparison for 2014 shows that Petrol vehicle sales declined by -6.6% while Diesel vehicle sales increased by 0.2%.

Also view:

Vehicle Finance, Car Insurance and Road Safety

Buying and Selling a Vehicle – Informed decisions and the Vehicle Retailer

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Vehicle sales numbers surprise in September despite challenging economic environment