Maimane gets it wrong with e-tolls

Perhaps DA leader Mmusi Maimane is tired of all the fighting within his party ranks; perhaps he (and some of his lieutenants) are a bit lost now that the big bogeyman of Jacob Zuma is no longer resident in the Union Buildings. But, surely, they could have come up with something better this week than blaming the latest fuel price increase on e-tolls.

It has nothing whatsoever to do with e-tolls – and the DA knows that full well. Or it should do, as a party which says it is committed to accuracy.

Both Maimane and DA shadow transport minister Manny de Freitas tried to fan anger against the ANC government by raising the e-toll issue during a walkabout among taxi drivers and commuters in central Johannesburg.

As Wayne Duvenage – whose Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has done far more than the DA ever did to protest e-tolls – pointed out, e-tolls account for only 10 cents per litre in the current fuel price, despite the fact that the government levies on petrol and diesel account for more than half of their pump prices.

This price increase is caused by two things: the increase in the dollar price of oil and the declining rand exchange rate against the dollar. Basic economics, DA people. If anything, Maimane was being too kind to the ANC because once the e-toll payment system collapses – as it surely will – then an extra fuel levy will be inevitable.

The lesson of the DA misstatements is that people like Outa and Duvenage should be listened to on e-tolls.

Had the government followed their advice and scrapped e-tolls five years ago and replaced that expensive collection system with a fuel levy of less than 50 cents per litre, the bulk of the costs of those highways would have been paid off by now.