Let’s focus on public transport, not e-tolls

THE ANCYL has called for the scrapping of e-tolls, saying the government must “listen to the people when they say they do not want e-tolls”.

Failure to prioritise public transport gave birth to e-tolls, and set the ANC on a collision course with “the people”; others opportunistically used e-tolls as a ladder to political glory.

Due to the sorry state of our public transport system, too many working people resorted to buying low-cost cars and preferred to be stuck in traffic than in packed slow trains. This is a fact we must accept.

Scrapping e-tolls, however, may prove disastrous for the working class in general, especially because such a move would negatively affect Sanral workers.

How would Sanral’s employees and their families view the ANC if they were laid off work because of a visionless scrapping of e-tolls that is led by people who daily complain about the very high levels of employment? A balance must then be found. We must thus consider the opinion of the SACP, expressed in May this year, namely that the future of our country’s transportation lies in a reliable, accessible, safe and affordable public transport system. Currently, the state of our public transport system is the direct opposite.

Thus if the working class was forced to buy low-cost cars as an attempt to escape the public transport system, it is logical that the first thing to do is focus on fixing the public transport system, not an unqualified campaign against e-tolls.

Tembisa, Kempton Park