MPs locked horns in Parliament over the e-tolling bill on Tuesday (5 March), with calls for a referendum on the matter, before voting in favour of it, taking Gauteng motorists a step closer to paying extra to use the province’s major freeways.
The Transport Laws and Related Matters Amendment Bill was approved by the National Assembly, paving the way for e-tolling on the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project.
During the second reading debate of the bill, opposition parties slammed the legislation, but did not prevail.
The bill will now go to the National Council of Provinces for final approval, likely to be a mere formality.
Opposition MPs suggested that the e-tolls should be funded by the national fuel levy and there should be a referendum in Gauteng.
APPROPRIATE IMPLEMENTATION
Rejecting this, transport minister Ben Martins said not everybody who paid the fuel levy used Gauteng’s toll roads. He said the bill was vital to enable “the appropriate implementation of the e-tolling system”.
Ian Ollis, the DA’s spokesman on transport, said that after 16 years of underinvestment by the government in road infrastructure, “we cannot expect motorists to make up the cash shortfall caused by the funding crisis that now besets” the SA National Roads Agency Ltd.
“We have long called for ring-fenced fuel levies that should be used only for road maintenance,” he said.
‘THE MONEY HAS RUN OUT’
“Unfortunately the ruling party hates hearing advice from the opposition and therefore spent the fuel levies on bailing out SAA - for R11 billion - building freeways to Nkandla and jet fuel for former defence minister Lindiwe Sisulu. Now, as finance minister Pravin Gordhan is finding out, the money has run out and somebody has to pay for the roads.”
Ollis said the e-toll system was “the world’s most expensive toll collection system”. According to the DA’s calculations, it could cost up to R11billion over eight years to operate.
He demanded that a referendum be held in Gauteng to offer voters a choice on whether they wanted the e-toll system to pay for the Gauteng freeway upgrades or whether they would prefer a fuel levy to pay for them.
Transport oversight committee chairwoman Ruth Bhengu focused on Cosatu, which has been at the forefront of opposition to e-tolling.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
She said the issue of funding or the funding model could not be addressed in the public hearings on the bill.
“Cosatu has not approached the portfolio committee to make a separate presentation that seeks to review the mandate of Sanral in relation to tolling of roads. Instead, Cosatu used the public hearings of this bill to question the mandate of Sanral and tolling of roads in South Africa in general,” said Bhengu.
She said any bill could be taken to Constitutional Court by those who had a different view.
Cope MP David Mbhele said his party opposed the bill because it focused on the collection of tolls.
“It’s not for any transparency relating to where the money will go to and what sort of profits will be permissible. Every law that we make and every amendment that we consider must show that transparency and accountability are the pillars on which we rest. Cope has never supported this bill and will not support it,” said Mbhele.
“It took me only a few minutes to discover that this plan is a rip-off for the consumer.”
Koos van der Merwe, of the IFP, said the party’s MP on the transport committee had resigned.
“This amendment bill has been riddled with controversy since its inception, “ he said, “and has been the subject of heated debate and robust exchanges between the government, the public, labour and business. It was withdrawn through the pressures of opposition parties. It will drive a nail into the coffin of the stretched taxpayer.
“Business will also suffer and have no option but to pass these costs on.”
There were 193 votes for the bill and 98 against it, with two abstentions.
An application by the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance to scrap e-tolling was dismissed by the Pretoria High Court. A date for an appeal court hearing has not been set.