This is one of the campaigns aimed at stopping e-tolls in Gauteng.
The campaign was taken to the Linksfield Road bridge with banners encouraging motorists to hoot if they supported the campaign.
Many of the motorists, including those driving business vehicles, hooted in support of the campaign.
One of the campaign’s members, Mr Barry Eslick from Edenvale, said the campaign started as a platform for residents to vent their frustrations against e-tolling on a Facebook page.
He added that this was to let motorists know that they were not alone in the fight against e-tolling.
Mr Eslick e-tolling should be scrapped. He added that the debt the country has accumulated through e-tolling can to be paid off via the fuel levy.
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“There is a claim that if we use the petrol levy instead of e-tolling, motorists from other provinces would be unfairly charged. This is not true. These are not Gauteng’s roads, they are national roads. Gauteng is also the largest contributor to the country’s tax. The tax is then distributed to the whole country. It is not spent here only. So using the fuel levy for e-tolls is a viable proposal,” he said.
He added that South Africa does not have an effective public transport system for residents.
“You cannot call taxis public transport. They are private entities. Ria Vaya’s drivers are always on strike, metro buses are hardly maintained and the Gautrain caters for a few, isolated communities in certain cities. Until we have buses sponsored by government and a Gautrain that travels to all corners of Gauteng, the government cannot say we have public transport in the province,” he said.
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Opposition to e-tolling from opposition parties and civil movements led to the Gauteng Premier, David Makhura, appointing a panel to examine the system’s viability.
Premier Makhura said e-tolling placed an additional burden on low and middle income households in the province.
“In its current form, the e-toll system is unaffordable and inequitable. It places a disproportionate burden on low and middle income households,” he said.
“It is also administratively too cumbersome.”.
It yet to be seen how the views of the panel will be accommodated in the national government’s decision on e-tolling.
