Mboweni’s e-toll twar shows e-tolls are here to stay, warns DA

The DA said in a statement on Saturday that Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s Twitter outburst attacking Gauteng Premier David Makhura’s comments during his State of the Province Address about e-tolls had confirms what the DA had been saying all along: that under the ANC, e-tolls were here to stay.

“Taking to Twitter, Mboweni lambasted Makhura, stating that the unjust user-pay system on Gauteng’s freeways will not be removed under his watch,” said DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga.

https://twitter.com/tito_mboweni/status/1147145944410075136

Makhura ended up dismissing Mboweni in response, saying he should stick to tweeting and cooking.

I have referred the e-tolls matter to President@CyrilRamaphosa for final resolution; My engagements him and Minister @MbalulaFikile have been positive. Minister @tito_mboweni can continue to tweet as he cooks; he is a Minister, not the President. #NoTurningBack

— David Makhura (@David_Makhura) July 5, 2019

“It is Minister Mboweni, not Premier Makhura, who pulls the country’s purse strings and has the final say on how taxes are raised,” said Msimanga.

https://twitter.com/tito_mboweni/status/1147201118725976064

“Since the gantries were switched on in December 2013, the ANC has consistently spoken with a forked tongue on the matter. When it is convenient, they claim that the system will be scrapped. But when the truth comes out, it is clear that they care not for the plight of Gauteng’s residents.”

Msimanga said that in the years since the e-tolls had gone live, numerous businesses had shut down due to the added “unjust costs” that they had not been able to carry.

“Private road users have been threatened with criminal records for non-compliance should they refuse to be fleeced of their hard-earned money. Ninety percent of the money collected from those who do pay is sent overseas and what is left barely makes a dent in re-paying Sanral’s bonds.”

He pointed out that money collected through other streams of revenue such as renewal fees and levies already contributed to paying for the country’s roads.

“Convoluted extortion schemes such as the e-toll system does not. With the economy in the perilous state that it is, Gauteng’s residents are stretched thin and cannot afford to take on additional, unjust taxes.

“Mboweni’s utterances that the people who cannot afford the e-tolls don’t pay because public transport is exempt from the system do not pay shows how far removed the ANC are from the lived experience of the vast majority of Gauteng’s residents.

“On Thursday, the DA indicated that if, by August, the e-toll gantries are still on, we will take steps to declare an intergovernmental dispute to have the system set aside.”

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