The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has applied to the Pretoria High Court for Sanral and its CEO to be declared to be in contempt of court for ignoring an order to provide the organisation with information, and for a suspended jail sentence for the CEO to encourage compliance within 10 days.\
This application was launched on January 24.
The application arises from Sanral’s failure to comply with an order from that court on November 15, 2021 to provide Outa with information on the Trans African Concessions (TRAC) concession contract to operate the N4 toll road, from Tshwane to Maputo. Sanral failed to oppose Outa’s application and, once the order was granted, failed to comply with that order.
In court papers, Outa asks the court to order Sanral and the CEO, who is also the Sanral information officer, to comply and provide the organisation with the information requested. It has also asked the court to issue a 30-day prison sentence for the CEO, suspended for one year, on condition that Sanral complies with the original order within 10 days of the new order being served. At the time of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia) request and the 2021 court action, the CEO was Skhumbuzo Macozoma, who left Sanral in November last year.
If the court grants this order, it would mean that if Sanral fails to meet the new deadline, the CEO would face jail time.
“Sanral failed to adhere to a court order we obtained against them for the disclosure of documentation relating to the concession contract of TRAC. This order was granted in our favour on November 15, 2021.
They did nothing, hence we are forcing them to comply,” says Brendan Slade, Outa legal project manager.
The matter is set down for hearing on May 24.
The application is supported by a founding affidavit from Andri Jennings, the lawyer acting for Outa in this matter.
This case arises from an application by Outa to Sanral in June 2020, in terms of the Paia, for a list of specified information on the TRAC concession. Sanral failed to respond, which is legally deemed a refusal to comply. In February 2021, Outa filed legal action against Sanral in the Pretoria High Court, demanding the documents. Sanral failed to oppose the application so the order was granted to Outa on November 15.
On December13, 2021, Sanral indicated that it would file an application for rescission of the court order, despite having been aware of the original application since February 2021 and failed to oppose it. This rescission application has not yet been filed and two deadlines have been missed. Jennings says Sanral “merely used the threat thereof as a delay tactic”.
Jennings says in her affidavit that Sanral and Macozoma “have wilfully, and mala fide failed to comply with the order and provided no compelling reasons for such failure”.
“We want that information and we will pursue this matter to finality,” says Slade.
