E-toll timebomb is ticking

Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula says government wants to move fast to resolve the e-tolls “Achilles heel” to restore the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) to its full borrowing capacity.

“There was social mobilisation that took place and people made up their minds they were not going to pay,” Mbalula said in a video released by the department of transport to The Citizen.

“We can get them to pay by force and by law,” he said. “The issue is not about that. Government has considered all those issues and came up with a hybrid model. We were given a task to go back to look at other mechanisms.”

Mbulula said e-tolls were devised by the government to fund the rollout in dealing with congestion fundamentally on SA’s roads.

“This pandemic messed us up on many fronts and one of those was the finalisation of e-tolls. Myself, the minister of finance and the president, through Cabinet, will be able to finalise before we go to recess and make a pronouncement on that.”

He said money meant for the development of rural roads now had to be used to compensate for e-tolls. However, government was considering a “hybrid” system for funding for the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project. He was not specific but then praised the concept of a partnership with “private capital” to fund infrastructure projects.

The government’s economic theorists have already flighted the idea of instituting “prescribed” investments in such infrastructure projects for pension funds, the biggest source of private capital in the country. However, the failing e-tolls project is already a government-private sector partnership, so enforcement is still an option.

The government has for years resisted on funding the project via fuel levies. Meanwhile, road users from all over the country have rejected the department’s plans to enforce the payment of e-tolls.

Melanie Viljoen from Pretoria said she would never pay e-tolls: “Not necessarily because I don’t agree with the initiative, but because it is such an inconsistent initiative. One week it’s implemented and mandatory and the next year it’s said to be scrapped and shut down, then it’s up again, down again.

“Imagine you’ve paid thousands, like a good citizen and, suddenly, the government decides the project is being shut down and all outstanding fees cancelled! You won’t get your money back.”

KwaZulu-Natal resident Dylan Bennie said if motorists gave in now, then for the rest of their lives they would pay to travel within Johannesburg.

“This was not discussed with the citizens of Gauteng. So why are they pushing for the country to pay for their mistake? Don’t pay for what they decided to do without consulting the community,” Bennie said.

“In KZN the people stopped e-tolls and it was never put in. This should have been done in Gauteng as well.”

Last Thursday, at the launch of Transport Month, Mbalula said he expected Sanral to rollout upcoming infrastructure projects valued at R177 billion, with zero corruption. On Wednesday, he further explained the e-tolls and said before anything could be implemented the pandemic hit the country.

“If you remember, you could not move between Pretoria and Johannesburg. The roads are so beautiful now. But because of nonpayment, this is stuck up. But this equally funded the entire road infrastructure in the country.

“All of that has come to a standstill because of e-tolls but that we are going to sort out now. And we are sorting it out. I thought by last year December it would have been done, but it is not as easy as one would think.”

He said the sooner the matter was resolved the better. “Aarto is even asking questions. They also don’t want e-tolls.”

He said the majority of the working class was not affected by e-tolls.

“But the middle class is affected and have joined the strike of nonpayment and [civil disobedience] and it has affected us as a country. We will resolve that. The president has given us marching orders on the matter and once we are done we will go back to the Cabinet and pronounce what needs to be done for the sake of our country and our economy.

“Once the decision is made we will announce the decision and the implications.”

– marizkac@citizen.co.za

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