The office of the Gauteng Premier has promised “good news” for motorists, but hinted that e-tolls are here to stay. Gauteng deputy director general in the provincial communication services in the office of the Gauteng Premier, Thabo Masebe said, “It will be good news. Government accepts the panel’s recommendations and will implement them. Obviously those who want the whole system to be scrapped will still not be happy, but the panel’s recommendations go a long way to mitigate the negative impacts of the etolls.”
Read Twitter abuzz on e-toll review
Ramaphosa will be accompanied by Transport Minister Dipuo Peters‚ Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene‚ Gauteng Premier David Makhura‚ Gauteng transport MEC Ishmael Vadi and finance MEC Barbara Creecy.
In March, the Gauteng treasury hinted it would be prepared to pay off the debt incurred in the R20 billion Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project. Creecy said Premier David Makhura’s advisory panel on e-tolls had recommended a hybrid funding model‚ one that recognised the ‘user pay’ principle, but incorporated financial contributions by the national and provincial governments. She was quoted in The Times as saying: “Once the intergovernmental team has completed its work‚ we will include a provincial contribution towards meeting the costs.”
During his state of the province address, Makhura urged motorists to wait for Ramaphosa’s committee to complete its inquiry into e-tolls. The panel found the e-tolls system was unaffordable‚ inequitable and cumbersome.
