OUTA hopes new CEO will rectify SANRAL's plight

SANRAL requires serious change to address the dire financial and credibility issues that have unfolded over the past decade.

It is unfortunate that Mr Nazir Alli - who has headed up SANRAL since its inception nearly two decades ago - has left Mr Macozoma with an organization in its current difficult situation, facing a possible credit rating downgrade and a failed e-toll scheme which has cost SANRAL several billions of rands. In addition, Mr Alli has left Mr Macozoma with a legacy of other challenges and quandaries related to the failed Western Cape freeway toll project; the N2 Wild Coast toll road debacle; more questions about SANRAL’s excessive road construction costs and a looming battle on the DeBeers Pass Route.

“We imagine that SANRAL will still be requiring the services and time of Mr Alli to respond to these many issues, allegations and court challenges due to play out over the next while. In addition, Mr Alli needs to still answer to the serious matter pertaining to questionable conduct and due process on SANRAL’s approvals on the Western Cape and Gauteng toll road decisions, as well as questions due in the legal battle about to unfold on the e-toll saga,” says Wayne Duvenage, OUTA’s Chairperson.

We trust that Mr Macozoma will do his best to turn SANRAL into the learning organization that it ought to be, by engaging more meaningfully with the public, local communities and their critics on all pertinent matters and projects it takes up in the future. “SANRAL’s dire financial state and the numerous court challenges it has lost over the years has largely been due to the organisation’s lack of transparency, due process and poor engagement on matters of high societal impact,” says Duvenage.

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) remains committed to putting an end to the irrational e-toll debacle and will also be holding SANRAL board supporters and its directors (current and past) accountable for any serious transgressions and maladministration, which it may uncover from its ongoing investigations.