However, the Organisation Uniting against Tax Abuse, Outa, which refuted this claim outright, said their extensive research indicated that e-toll non-payment had virtually nothing to do with the tariff and non-payment – now at around 90 percent of road users – is due to a matter of principle.
Outa, previously known as Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance, stated that the public defied the scheme for a number of reasons, all of which culminate in a civil disobedience campaign against an irrational, inefficient, cumbersome tax which they believe was also introduced through a dismal and meaningless public engagement process.
Outa chairperson Wayne Duvenage said, “Furthermore, the defiant citizens believe that urban road upgrades need to be funded with taxation, which is fed through other efficient user-pay mechanisms, such as the fuel levy and vehicle license fees.”
Duvenage said a survey conducted by Outa and media outlets, showed that when citizens were asked if they would pay e-tolls if it was only one cent, the overwhelming response was ‘no’. “The public is emphatic that they shouldn’t have to pay additional fees, which attract high administration costs, to use social infrastructure that should be funded through normal taxation,” he said.
Outa said the fact that Makhura has emphasised that a number of highways and other arterial routes will be upgraded in due course, but will be undertaken without the use of tolling, is a tacit acknowledgement that social infrastructure should not be subjected to user pays systems – just as it was acknowledged by the Presidential Review Committee on State-Owned Entities, commissioned to review State-owned entity funding in 2013.
Duvenage said, “ It would appear now that government is confused, and even schizophrenic, in its reasoning and logic around the road funding methodology and the time has come for them to acknowledge that the seriously flawed and failed e-toll matter was the wrong decision. It is dead and the white elephant now needs to be buried.”
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