Johannesburg - The African National Congress called on motorists on Tuesday to register for their e-toll accounts to take advantage of the benefits offered to registered users.
The benefits of being registered included discounted rates for frequent users, said spokesman Jackson Mthembu.
“The ANC further calls for restraint from all members of society against mobilising for lawlessness as it relates to the e-tolls,” he said.
Extensive consultations had taken place around the funding model of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project and concerted efforts were made to resolve the mutual problems identified.
Mthembu said the ANC was grateful to the almost one million South Africans who had already bought their e-tags and committed themselves to work with the government to further improve world-class and sophisticated infrastructure.
“Infrastructure that all of us are in agreement has lightened the burden of travelling time and road safety, providing much-needed time to motorists to do the things they would rather do than sitting in traffic.”
He said what remained a point of disagreement was not that the roads had been improved, but rather the funding model that had been adopted.
The ANC was aware of and appreciated the dissatisfaction of many road users with regard to the implementation of e-tolls, he said.
“Part of this dissatisfaction arises from the lack of an integrated, safe and reliable public transport system, which would allow motorists options when confronted with the introduction of the user pay principle as in the case of the tolled roads.”
He said the government had also established significant discounts for registered users and made commitments to cap the costs payable by a user per month, providing an opportunity for planning and certainty.
“The (Gauteng) provincial government has also built and upgraded more than 200km of alternative non-tolled roads.” - Sapa