Ward 93 protests against e-tolls

Ward 93 councillor Annette Deppe explained that during the extensive public hearings held in Sunninghill leading up to the start of e-tolling, she had promised that the day e-tolls started she would protest at the Rivonia Road intersection and she had fulfilled her promise.

Deppe said, “Today we are doing a silent protest to reflect what the majority of motorists out there feel about e-tolls, however this is only the precursor to more DA activity to protest the e-tolling system around Johannesburg.”

The protesters brandished placards that read ‘Against our constitutional rights’ and ‘Stop highway robbery’.

These were met with hoots, clapping and cheers from motorists driving passed the protest.

Deppe added that if the alternate roads were in a better condition or were being upgraded as was promised, then there would at least be some form of choice.

Deppe’s daughter, Candace, a student at the University of Pretoria was worried that many of her classmates who commute from Johannesburg to Pretoria daily would not be able to afford the cost of e-tolls on top of tuition fees.

“I relate e-tolls to going shopping,” she said. “If you can’t afford to buy something in a shop you can just choose to not buy it, but with e-tolls we don’t have a choice, we just have to pay for the use of these roads whether we like it or not.”

Meanwhile, Johannesburg’s alternative routes suffered severe traffic congestion on the morning of 3 December.

According to News24, Superintendent Edna Mamonyane of Metro police said Hendrik Potgieter, Ontdekkers and Main Reef roads experienced heavy traffic.

“Kliprivier, Booysens and Rosettenville roads were backed up for motorists coming from the south of Johannesburg,” she said.

She said there was an increase of traffic in neighbourhoods, as motorists used suburbs in a bid to escape tolled roads.