The South African National Roads Agency SOC Ltd or SANRAL is a South African parastatal responsible for the management, maintenance and development of South Africa's proclaimed National Road network which includes many (but not all) National ("N") and some Provincial and Regional ("R") route segments. History SANRAL was created by The South African National Roads Agency Limited and National Roads Act, 1998 as a corporatized successor to the South African Roads Board, which was part of the Department of Transport. It was registered as a public limited company on 19 May 1998. In 2011, SANRAL became the target of popular resentment as tolling was about to commence on many of SANRAL's freeways in Gauteng, in order to finance their soon to be completed expansions, as part of the first phase of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project. The GFIP was instituted to deal with the severe traffic congestion in Gauteng's freeways . Governance SANRAL's only shareholder is the state, represented by the Minister of Transport. The agency is governed by an eight-member Board of Directors. Five voting membersthe chairperson and four othersare appointed by the Minister of Transport for a term of three years. Two government officials are non-voting members, one from the Department of Transport and nominated by the Minister of Transport, and the other from the National Treasury and nominated by the Minister of Finance. The Chief Executive Officer, who is appointed by the Minister of Transport on the recommendation of the Board, is ex officio a non-voting member of the Board. Operations SANRAL had 178 employees. They are divided between the head office and four regional offices: Northern Region (Gauteng, North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga); Western Region (Western Cape and Northern Cape); Eastern Region (Free State and KwaZulu-Natal); and Southern Region (Eastern Cape). In 2009 the agency managed a total of 16,170 kilometres of roads, and by 2014, more than 22,000 kilometers. SANRAL's operations are divided into two broad categories, namely toll roads, which are self-funding, and non-toll roads, which are funded by transfers from the Department of Transport. In 2014 toll roads constituted 14% (c. 3,000 km) of its responsibilities, and non-toll roads 86% (c. 19,000 km). Some toll roads are concessions, privately funded and managed with supervision from SANRAL; these include the Platinum Highway (N1/N4), the Maputo Corridor (N4) and the N3 Toll Concession. Other toll roads are owned and operated directly by SANRAL; these include