President Cyril Ramaphosa delivering the keynote address at the inaugural 4th Industrial Revolution SA Digital Economy Summit in Midrand. (Pics supplied: GCIS)
In a statement on Saturday, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office said he had had mandated Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula to work with Finance Minister Tito Mboweni and Gauteng Premier David Makhura to submit to Cabinet a solution to the “impasse” around electronic tolling on Gauteng freeways.
“The President has noted and finds extremely unfortunate and deeply regrettable recent public exchanges between Finance Minister Tito Mboweni and the Gauteng Provincial Government on this matter,” said the presidency.
“The President says such exchanges on social media are unbecoming of their high offices and fail to provide the leadership required in this instance.”
Some of Mboweni’s tweets have subsequently been deleted.
“The public interest is best served through collaboration, not conflict, and the appropriate platform for leaders to express and reconcile differing views is Cabinet and other coordination forums.”
He wants them to table their proposals by the end of August.
“While the user-pay principle remains a policy of government, the electronic tolling system as part of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Plan (GFIP) presents challenges in its current form.
“The President expects that the consultations within government over the coming weeks will produce workable outcomes.”
Earlier, the opposition DA said in a statement on Saturday that Mboweni’s Twitter outburst attacking Makhura’s comments during his State of the Province Address about e-tolls had confirmed that 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.
“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.
“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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