E-tolls kill businesses in Gauteng
JOBURG - E-tolls are crippling businesses and killing jobs in Gauteng, the DA said.
The party announced the initial findings of its survey on the impact of the user-pay system on small businesses.
“The results so far reveal the e-tolls bill, for a sample of 50 small businesses, amounting to R850 000 so far this year,” said DA MP Toby Chance.
The highest cumulative bill incurred by a single enterprise was a staggering R101 761, 83; over R10 000 per month, Chance said.
“As a result of this financial burden, some businesses had chosen to transfer the cost to their clients, while others were forced to retrench workers or scale down their business models,” Chance said.
“The effect is simple and straight forward. The growth prospects for business and their ability to create jobs is severely hampered.”
According to Chance, a small family-run transport company, which had been operating for more than 50 years, said e-tolls were costing the company an extra R5 000 per month.
“This has led to a loss of clients in Pretoria due to the fact that they cannot afford their transport services.”
In another instance, a small electronics business with three service vehicles on the road currently sits with an e-tolls bill of R32 000, which has not been paid to date, Chance said.
“The owner said he will most definitely have to scale down in terms of the number of vehicles on the road, which will inevitably result in the retrenching of an employee.”
Meanwhile, e-tolls had resulted in a small chemicals company seeing the cost of every delivery increase by at least 100 percent.
“[This] in effect means the total cost to clients will increase by nearly 15 percent. In a price-conscious market, less people will continue using their chemicals, therefore reducing their turnover,” Chance said.
“While these results are a small sample, covering 50 small businesses in Gauteng, one can only imagine the impact e-tolls is having on the thousands of other businesses and companies throughout the province.”
Earlier this year, Shoprite said it would incur an additional R4 million in distribution costs per year due to e-tolling.
At the time, the retailer’s spokesperson Sarita van Wyk said, “While Shoprite will obviously try to absorb the additional expense for as long as possible, it will not be feasible to absorb the impact on retail prices to consumers in the long run.”
