Labour federations slam e-tolls

The National Council of Trade Unions (Nactu), The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the Federation of Unions of South Africa made presentations on the first day of consultations held by the advisory panel to review e-tolling.

The federations argued that the system was ill conceived and should be scrapped.

Nactu said that the implementation of e-tolling was premature and had put pressure on already-financially burdened motorists.

The union’s project manager, Thulani Khumalo, said that funding for Gauteng’s freeways could be sourced through alternative mechanisms such as the fuel levy.

Cosatu’s provincial secretary, Dumisani Dakile, said e-tolling would put a direct burden on the poor of Gauteng who would be forced to pay to travel on highways which were previously free of charge.

“It is not true that only the middle class use our highways. Government’s own statistics show that a third of all commuters travel by car, and that half of all working people earn less than R3 000 a month. This means that many low income earners use private cars to travel to work, because our public transport system is so unreliable that they have no alternative.”

E-tolls would also place an indirect burden on the poor of the whole of South Africa by adding to the cost of transporting goods within and to and from Gauteng, having an immediate effect on food inflation, Dakile added.

“The system has also in a way encouraged the breaking of the law where many motorists have decided to falsify [their] number plates. The falsification of number plates, or cloning, will exacerbate the billing problems,” Dakile said.

He said Cosatu also supported the fuel levy as an alternative source of funding for the costs of the province’s freeways.

“For R3 billion to be raised annually, an additional 14c levy would be required. This option was supported, as it would be easy and quick to implement through an amendment to the Regulations to the Customs and Excise Act.”

The advisory panel mandated to review the impacts of e-tolling embarked on a month-long consultation process with organisations and individuals on 27 August.

Business on 28 and 29 August, civil society from 1 to 3 September, information and knowledge institutions on 4 September and transport organisations on 8 and 9 September.

The consultations during this phase were open only to organisations and would be followed by public meetings throughout Gauteng.