‘Switch off the gantries’: Outa does not believe Lesufi’s promise to scrap e-tolls

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) CEO, Wayne Duvenhage, says Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi has been saying for some time that he was going to scrap e-tolls, but the entity does not believe him.

“He is constantly saying that [but] e-tolls are still here. How many more times is he going to say it? That’s the problem,” he said.

Will e-tolls be scrapped?

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said there was no deal yet to end e-tolls after Lesufi said the province was close to scrapping the system.

Lesufi said “we have now reached a stage where we all accept that the people of Gauteng have rejected e-tolls”. He said a meeting was held with all affected parties and it was agreed that e-tolls would be history in Gauteng.

“We held a meeting with the minister of finance and the minister of transport. All of us have reached an agreement that by 31 March this year, the formal process to switch off and delink e-tolls will begin,” said Lesufi.

ALSO READ: ‘Gauteng has to give us money’: Godongwana questions Lesufi’s plans to scrap e-tolls

This weekend, Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga said that the e-tolls programme had been stopped. “We are working to switch off the gantries for e-toll purposes but not for other purposes. So we are going to use gantries for crime prevention purposes,” she said.

Chikunga claimed Godongwana had announced last year that there was already a deal that National Treasury would pay 70% of the e-toll debt and Gauteng would pay 30%.

“We then had to look at how we are going to maintain roads because it was difficult for Sanral [South African National Roads Agency] to use the non-toll budget for a tolled road,” she added.

‘Gauteng should not pay for e-tolls’

Duvenhage said ministers could not implement their own decisions properly – this was why it was difficult for them to cancel e-tolls.

He said he did not understand why it was difficult to switch off the gantries “because it is easy”. “They just stop billing. So the gantries that are sending number plates turn off the number recognition,” he said.

ALSO READ: ‘It’s not that simple’: Gauteng govt seeking loan to pay R12 billion for e-toll scrapping – Lesufi

He added that Gauteng should not be paying any of the debt because it was Sanral’s roads. “Sanral is a national roads agency and the bonds are guaranteed by National Treasury so we don’t believe it’s a Gauteng issue. It’s a Sanral and National Treasury issue,” he added.

In July 2019, former Gauteng premier David Makhura said the province’s stance on e-tolls was unchanged. He stressed it was not for election purposes and “e-tolls have no future in Gauteng”.

“But you know the truth, this matter is in the hands of national government. Me and the minister of transport have been talking about how to take forward the work of the president on e-tolls and there is going to be significant movement on this matter,” Makhura said.

ALSO READ: Formal process to remove e-tolls begins on 31 March – Lesufi

On 3 December, 2019, when Fikile Mbalula was the minister of transport, he said the e-toll matter was before Cabinet and a decision would not come before 16 December. But two years later, he was still discussing the issue.

On 30 June, 2022, Mbalula said he and the finance minister were directed by the president that “this matter should come to Cabinet”. “It will feature as a matter resolved by Cabinet at the medium-term budget policy statement. This one is for sure, for certain,” Mbalula said at the time.

e-Tolls part of electioneering

Political analyst Ntsikelelo Breakfast said the e-toll discussions were part of electioneering. He said Lesufi must fulfil his promise by 31 March because the ANC had everything to lose.

“For the first time, the ANC might lose the premiership of Gauteng if they don’t fix the issue of e-tolls. This issue has always been in the pipeline,” Breakfast said.

Duvenhage said the public would not fall for the ANC’s argument off switching off the e-toll gantries. He said there was no political gain in switching them off now.