Budget Speech: Time for Godongwana to officially rid us of e-tolls

Ahead of Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s maiden budget speech on Wednesday, questions have been raised on whether or not e-tolls will officially be scrapped or not.

Godongwana is expected to make a pronouncement on the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) (e-tolls) saga, after Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula said in November 2021 that Cabinet had finally decided to end the scheme.

While Mbalula did indicate that the National Treasury had stopped the implementation of the decision, he insisted that the Finance Minister would still make an announcement on e-tolls during his Budget Speech.

Now that the time has come, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) says it expects the matter to be finalised.

“[E-tolls have to be scrapped] because [government] don’t have a choice. They were actually scrapped a long time ago in the sense that the scheme is not working.

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“[Government] is not getting the funds that they are supposed to get from motorists because motorists saw this was an unlawful scheme, Outa told The Citizen on Wednesday.

Stefanie Fick, Executive Director of the Accountability Division at OUTA, said that government should accept that the e-tolls project was unsuccessful as the compliance rate currently stood at 15%.

“[Only] 15% of motorists pay e-tolls so there hasn’t been [any] financial Armageddon. I know Minister Mbalula has said that the roads in this country is in [dire] state because of the fact that people in Gauteng are not paying e-tolls [and that is absolute nonsense,” she contined

The Outa exec argued that the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) receives funds – specifically for e-tolls- from government every year.

“[Mbalula’s comments are nonsense because] Sanral gets a large amount of money from the fiscus. Since 2018 more than R11 billion [has been given to Sanral] for the GFIP [so] there’s definitely money for Sanral to upgrade the roads,” she added.

Fick said that Outa will fight to have e-tolls scrapped if the scheme is not ended, adding that the organisation would defend any member of the public who is summoned by Sanral to pay their e-toll debt.

“It is in government’s best interest to actually make a decision because it would just bring clarity. The Sanral board in 2019 already decided not go after anybody for e-toll debt, so everything is standing still. They are not collecting [money]… only the 15% that wants to pay.

READ MORE: Government must ‘bite the bullet’ and make a decision on e-tolls, says Sanral CEO

According to Mbalula, a decision regarding the road-user pay system (user-pay policy) would be made.

E-tolls, which were implemented in December 2013, was immediately met with hostility, with many members of the public refusing to pay.

This led to President Cyril Ramaphosa appointing a task team to resolve the impasse over e-tolls back in 2019.

Outa has been trying to overturn the e-tolls system since 2012.

Gauteng MEC for roads infrastructure Jacob Mamabolo also voiced the official position of the provincial government on e-tolls remains that they must be scrapped.