The Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng metropolitan mayoral candidates pledged last week that if the party governs after 3 August, it would fight against attempts by the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) to introduce new toll roads.
E-tolls, an electronic tolling system, have plagued some Gauteng road users since the end of 2013 when it was implemented. Joburgers who use the N1 Western Bypass, are frequently greeted by overhead e-toll structures lit with blue lights, knowing an e-toll bill will be delivered in the mail soon. Many of these road users, however, have refused to pay.
“This project has made it more expensive for the poor to travel to work, has hurt small businesses, driven up food prices and undermined job creation. It has been an opportunity-killing move by an uncaring government,” the candidates said at the signing of the pledge outside Sanral’s offices in Pretoria.
The mayoral candidate for Tshwane, Solly Msimanga, City of Johannesburg candidate, Herman Mashaba and Ekurhuleni candidate, Ghaleb Cachalia made the pledge. In response to the pledge, Transport Minister, Dipuo Peters said it is simply electioneering and “grossly misleading”.
Peters defended e-tolls saying the user-pay principle funds the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project, which has boosted the local and national economy and improved the lives of all road users in the region. “This is a globally accepted, preferred method to pay for improved roads and other strategic infrastructure. Tolling has been national policy since 1996 and as such cannot be changed as a result of a municipal election, as the DA seems to claim,” she said.
Peters said the system is carefully and selectively applied in South Africa with only three-120km of the 21 403km Sanral road network tolled, and of that, only 201km constitute the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project toll roads. She added that the poor and the working class, who use public transport, are “cushioned” because registered transport is exempted from e-tolls.
Peters said the government has listened to citizens’ concerns, referring to reduced e-toll tariffs and contributions by national and provincial government.
On 13 July, the DA Shadow Minister for Transport, Manny de Freitas, tabled a Private Members Bill that seeks to amend the Sanral Act that will introduce “essential checks and balances before the construction of tolls can commence”.
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