Motorists must take a stand
The countdown has begun and motorists have one last week of driving Johannesburg's beautiful highways free of charge.
When the date of the e-tolls was announced on 20 November, there was an outcry from motorists – and when there is an outcry, there are tweets. “20 November will go down in history as the day the government ignored the people,” said LeadSA’s Yusuf Abramjee; while a facebook page which has taken a strong stand against e-tolling wrote “3 December has been declared as the official switch on of the e-toll system. This is where the excrement is about to make contact with the rotary air circulating mechanism! We have just shy of 80 000 people on our page pledging to not pay the e-tolls. Share this with all your friends and let’s try to get over the 100 000 mark before they switch on!”
The page has been steadily gaining ‘likes’ ever since and is currently at over 80 000.
On the other side of the fence, government ministers are advising motorists to get tagged, saying it will be cheaper. Advertisements for the national roads agency are continuously making statements such as “It’s defiantly better to get tagged,” but is it really better? Will life be easier with an e-tag and will the traffic on the highways be better? No.
The question remains – while many motorists say they don’t want the gantries, are they truly prepared to take a stand for it? Many were not there to support the opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance when they needed it the most, and when Cosatu held their drive slow on the highway, they did not get nearly enough support from affected motorists. If motorists were not there when those who needed them were fighting for their rights, what makes anyone think they will be there, fighting against the system now? It is time motorists put their money where their mouths are. If they are for the gantries, go get tagged, if they are against them – they need to start fighting their own battle and stop watching others try fight it for them.
