And so, with little fanfare, e-tolls are now coming into effect.
Seldom before has such a simple statement been met with such a vigorous outcry from the people. Now, we can debate the reasons given by Sanral for the e-tolls until the proverbial cows come home. We can argue the pros and cons of making all of South Africa pay for Gauteng’s roads until the fat lady sings. But it will make no difference. E-tolls are here – can you feel it?
There are, however, a couple of flaws with all the rhetoric being sprouted about how our roads have been improved. But let’s be honest, the only road which has seen an improvement is the R21 to Pretoria. Gone is the old two-lane freeway, replaced with an awesome four-lane link to the Jacaranda City. But what about the rest of the freeways? The N1, the R24 and the N3 are all pre-existing roadways. Rumour has it that the N1, just past the Buccleuch Interchange, was not constructed correctly. Apparently the road is shifting downhill and will need to be fixed (again) in a few short years. I cannot confirm these rumours.
But let’s be honest, how was traffic improved on the N1? Simply put, it has not improved. So what are we paying for there? How has traffic been improved on the R24 and N3 connection, the famous Gillooly’s Interchange? Again, no improvement.
So I am forced to ask, what the heck are we paying for? On top of that, is it not part of government’s normal budgeting to ensure the roadways (across the country) are improved, maintained and upgraded? Much of the road infrastructure in Johannesburg predates the ANC rule. In fact, the entire system was constructed between the 1960s and 1980s. No tolls were placed on the roads then, when there was nothing there and the system had to be created from scratch. So why now, when the system is already in pace and all that was needed was some new tar and maybe an extra lane or two? Are our country’s financial people so inept as to be unable to budget and plan accordingly for this? Do we not have project managers, accountants and the like in public service who could foresee the costs involved and start planning earlier? How many upgrades have been done to the N1 prior to the e-toll system – this was never tolled. Besides, we were told the upgrades were for the Soccer World Cup – weren’t we supposed to make the money back from that event?
In addition, what was the cost of the actual e-toll gantries? This must surely have been in the region of many millions (including the labour and expertise imported from Europe). Cut that off the bill and how much would the freeway improvement plan have cost? Did we really have to use foreign experience to build our roads? We managed it perfectly fine when we were under sanctions. And no, this is not a tirade against the ruling party, etc. This is a simple questioning of what took place and why.
If, like me, you do not earn a huge salary, R400 a month is a hefty bill – this is what people are ‘averaged’ to pay, according to Sanral. Or they said it will be capped at R400 per motorist, with all the nonsense bandied about, it’s hard to remember. All fine and well, except that both my wife and I work, so it won’t be R400 a month, it will be R800 per month. That is (to me at any rate) a large amount of money to be spent on a system which has not improved my freeway driving experience at all. I still sit in traffic congestion daily. This means R8 000 per annum from my wife and I alone for a service which never materialised. In most cases, this is something which would go to the small-claims court – paying for a service which was never rendered.
Let’s say there are two million people using the roads in Johannesburg. At R400 per month, the government will make roughly R80-million a month. Therefore, in less than two years, R1.6-billion in revenue would have been generated. And these are conservative numbers, excluding the higher rates for trucks, busses, etc. It also excludes the people from outside Johannesburg who travel to the city every week.
On the other hand, taxis are exempt, even though they make more trips along the highway daily than I do in an entire week. So what is the e-tolling all about, really? I tried gazing into my Magic 8-ball again and was told to ‘try again later’.
I must applaud Sanral though for some brilliant planning. Starting the e-tolling just before the Christmas exodus begins was sheer brilliance. I foresee some Sanral chaps sitting and rubbing their hands with glee at this prospect. Not only will Sanral get the out-going exodus, they will get the returning exodus in January too.
One thing is for sure, there are indeed only two certainties in life – death and taxes. And by golly, death seems to be the cheaper option these days.
