WATCH: DA march to Makhura’s office, demand e-tolls be scrapped

Thousands of DA members have responded to Gauteng premier candidate Solly Msimanga’s call to march to premier David Makhura’s office to demand the e-toll contract expiring in December to not be renewed.

The protest led by Msimanga and mayor Herman Mashaba, alongside other DA members, is intended to hand over a petition to Makhura to demand the scrapping of the e-toll system.

The petition with over 50,000 signatures is an attempt by the party to prove to the premier that renewing the contract will be acting against what the people want.

They are demanding the premier use his influence in government to not renew the contract which comes to an end on December 31.

The party challenged Makhura to take action on their memorandum if he was serious about scrapping e-tolls. They have pointed out that pressure needed to be put on the ANC’s secretary general and Transport Minister Blade Nzimande to push for the scrapping of the system.

This is after the premier led an ANC march in November in Pretoria also demanding the scrapping of e-tolls. Makhura proposes the system be replaced with an alternative system.

The SA Roads Agency sits in mounting debt worth billions due to the growing non-payment of e-tags by motorists.

Hundreds marched to the Union Building during the ANC’s march against e-tolls in November, pleading with the government to do away with the system, claiming it had failed.

This comes after the ANC’s Panyaza Lesufi also tasked President Cyril Ramaphosa to look into e-tolls in November claiming they were not assisting the people of Gauteng.

He was speaking at the National Council of provinces address in Alberton where he said a new course of action was needed to address the issue.

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