The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) has collected R250.8 million between when e-tolling went live in Gauteng and the end of February, it says.

Sanral’s CFO, Inge Mulder, adds the agency has recorded revenue of R953 million from the controversial system, which went live in early December.

However, Mulder said the revenue represents the “nominal value of transactions”, excluding value-added tax, and has not been adjusted in terms of International Financial Reporting Standards, which requires amounts to be fair-valued and impaired, if applicable.

As a result, the revenue could change and will still be reviewed by the Auditor-General for accuracy and completeness. No provision for bad debt has been included, said Sanral.

The agency says the cash flow is better than what it had expected, adding it has also registered 1.2 million users, although this figure has been previously called into question. Sanral has shared these figures with stakeholders and the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport. Sanral has also faced thousands of queries from motorists around incorrect bills.

“We made Parliament understand that there were no major issues with registered users and that of the 1.2 million registered users, 964 886 (77%) users had purchased an e-tag, with the remainder of 277 431 (23%) opting for the vehicle licence number plate registration.

“We also conceded to Parliament that where we have issues is with unregistered users and the majority of queries included cloned number plates and vehicles without number plates, which we are attending to as a matter of priority and is being done in conjunction with the Department of Transport,” said CEO Nazir Alli.

Alli also rejected the allegations of inaccurate figures, saying they are subject to audit.

Sanral, which has debt of R39.8 billion, will also initiate a bond auction on 2 April to raise further funds. It did not indicate how much cash it sought, but it had battled with cash flows due to various courts cases that help up implementation of the system.

Earlier this week, the Western Cape High Court ruled the Transport Laws and Related Matters Amendment Act (E-toll Act) is constitutionally sound.

The Democratic Alliance went to court about two weeks ago to challenge the law, which is the legislation giving e-tolling the green light, on the basis that it had not passed through the relevant channels – that is, provincial legislature.

Sanral’s road show, during which it revealed its figures, coincided with this ruling, and it hopes ratings agencies will see this in a positive light and upgrade their views of the roads company.