E-tolls system has added to economic gloom and doom
INSTEAD of creating an environment of prosperity, economic inclusion and growth, the country has slipped into a recession with more and more of our people joining the ranks of the unemployed.
The cost of living has sky-rocketed due to the increase of fuel and VAT. More and more people are struggling to make ends meet.
For residents of Gauteng, the additional burden of e-tolls and threats by the failing ANC government have had a dire impact on the province’s economy.
The project only has a 29% compliance rate among road users in the province, yet it remains a constant bargaining tool for the failing ANC around election time.
After a dreadful performance at the polls in 2014, Gauteng Premier David Makhura appointed an “e-tolls review panel” to ascertain public sentiment with the intention of scrapping the project.
Despite the panel coming to the logical conclusion that the project was fundamentally flawed from the outset, with little consideration for the people who would be impacted by its implementation, and that it should be scrapped, the premier, along with then Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, offered up a “reduced” fee version of the system.
This “great” offer was rightly rejected as the people of the province refused to be hoodwinked by the backhanded dealings of government.
In 2016, another blow was dealt to the failing ANC in the municipal elections after it lost the metros of Johannesburg and Tshwane. Once again, the issues of e-tolls were wheeled out with the premier singing from the rafters that his government had heard the people and that the system had failed.
Earlier this year, after a Cabinet re-shuffle and the appointment of Blade Nzimande as Minister of Transport, the lie was repeated: the government is going to scrap the contentious tolling system. However, a couple of months into the job, Nzimande did a predictable U-turn and announced that the system was going nowhere.
Just last week newly appointed Finance Minister Tito Mboweni lamented the fact that e-toll compliance is virtually non-existent and made a veiled threat that people are going to have to start complying with the scheme, or else.
These are the actions of an uncaring government, one that has scant regard for the well-being of our people.
It is evident from the years of dallying on the issue that the failing ANC has absolutely no intention of scrapping the system which it forced on the people of Gauteng.
The impact of this disastrous project has not only created an environment of hostility between citizens and government, but it has placed the SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) in the precarious position of ratings downgrades and has weakened its ability to raise future bonds for much-needed road infrastructure projects.
In December, the contentious contract with the ETC (Electronic Toll Collections) Joint Venture Consortium with Kapsch TrafficCom will come to an end. It is this contract that has virtually perpetuated the need for an electronic tolling network across Gauteng.
If the failing ANC in Gauteng was truly on the side of the people, as it claims to be, it would exert pressure on Nzimande to ensure that this collection contract is not renewed. Without having to pay the bulk of collections to this company, the system no longer needs to remain in place.
Alternative methods of repaying Sanral’s bonds must be explored, but to do so it is imperative that the collection contract is not renewed.
The DA will work tirelessly to ensure that this contract is not renewed.