E-toll ‘solution’ just defers the pain till later
On Friday, transport minister Sindisiwe Chikunga, Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi and government officials converged near an e-toll gantry to celebrate the end of a scheme South African motorists rejected wholeheartedly. Electronic tolling of highways was first mooted in 2008, two years before the country hosted the 2010 Fifa World Cup, when the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) issued a government gazette outlining its intention to upgrade provincial freeways that were choking from congestion.
The agency announced its intention to go to markets and borrow R30bn for a grand Gauteng Freeway Improvement Plan (GFIP) that entailed additional lanes, upgrading intersections and adding new off-ramps. A user-pays principle was agreed with the government and bondholders — meaning the responsibility to repay the debt ultimately fell to those who used and benefited from the improved highway network.
Instead of erecting conventional prepaid toll gates, Sanral opted for a more flexible postpaid option using the latest technology. It erected gantries fitted with lights and cameras, and charges per kilometre.
In principle, user-pay is an ingenious solution to funding road infrastructure that needs lifelong maintenance. Almost all SA’s national highways operate on this principle, with the toll revenues ring-fenced for maintenance and upgrades.
But Gauteng motorists largely resisted the system the moment the gantries went live in 2013. While some individuals and businesses agreed to fit e-tags inside their vehicles and open accounts with Sanral, a sizeable chunk refused to comply, even under threat of prosecution.
This disobedience campaign spawned a pressure group, Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance, which has since morphed into the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse. The organisation subsequently successfully challenged in court the enforcement of e-toll debt payments.
For more than a decade the government insisted on sticking to the user-pay principle to cover the GFIP debt despite motorists’ resistance. The tide against e-tolls turned when the ANC in Gauteng — spooked by its dwindling majority in successive elections — campaigned for their scrapping.
The Treasury finally relented, and in 2022 finance minister Enoch Godongwana announced the demise of e-tolls in his budget speech. This was pending negotiations with Sanral and Gauteng on how to settle GFIP debt and maintain the 102km network of provincial freeways going forward. By December last year, the outstanding GFIP debt was R42bn.
Gauteng has agreed to cover 30% of this, which means the Treasury will reduce annual allocations to the province until it repays this money. Either way, Gautengers will pay for the improvement of these freeways. The province has also committed R4.1bn towards a fund managed by Sanral to maintain the network going forward.
However, some questions remain unanswered. While motorists were no longer liable for e-toll debt, what happens to historical debt? Also, what about those who have been paying these tolls for over a decade? Will they be refunded? Will motorists still be hounded for the outstanding debt?
Sanral has compiled an information pack posted on its website, which aims to answer some of these questions. Under the question, “Will motorists be refunded e-toll fees that they have paid? If so, how? If not, why not?”, the agency responds that as the implementing authority it has not received any information regarding the refunding and/or prosecution of outstanding e-toll fees. It is awaiting instructions from its political principals on this score.
The end of e-tolling allows Sanral to go back to the bond market and borrow for future road construction purposes. The Treasury has set it a R16.5bn borrowing limit, but it’s unclear how much of that money, if any, will go towards further improvements to Gauteng freeways that were still heavily congested.
Lesufi and his comrades might high-five each other, but this is a pyrrhic victory. It might score them some votes next month but the consequences of settling debt of about R12bn, and commitment to maintaining freeways, will be felt for many years to come.