E-toll panel receives submissions

File picture: Thobile Mathonsi

File picture: Thobile Mathonsi

Published Oct 14, 2014

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Johannesburg - Motorists, organisations and political parties have given their submissions to the panel reviewing the electronic tolling (e-tolls) on Gauteng's highways.

Below is the timeline of events leading up to the day it concluded those proceedings.

July 10, 2014 - Gauteng premier David Makhura announces the names of the 10 people to sit on the panel which is to assess the socio-economic impact of e-tolls.

July 11, 2014 - Chairman of the provincial transport portfolio committee Jacob Khawe claims the panel is reputable.

July 17, 2014 - E-toll panel holds it first meeting. Makhura adds two more members to the panel which is meant to consist of 15 people.

27 August, 2014 - Start of public consultations on the socio-economic impact of the e-tolls.

27 August, 2014 - National Council of Trade Unions project manager Thulani Khumalo tells the panel that “the system of user pay does not present any rational choice to road users”.

August 27, 2014 - Congress of SA Trade Unions provincial secretary Dumisani Dakile tells the panel that “absolutely everything's wrong” with e-tolls.

August 27, 2014 - Federation of Unions of SA spokesman Junior Gys proposes that those who have paid money towards their e-toll bill should be refunded.

August 28, 2014 - Contractual affairs manager of Consulting Engineers SA Wallace Mayne tells the panel that a proposed fuel levy was not an effective means of funding improvements to Gauteng's freeways.

August 28, 2014 - Black Business Council CEO Babalwa Ngonyama tells the panel that the consultations prior to the introduction of e-tolling were flawed.

August 28, 2014 - SA Transport and Allied Workers Union provincial secretary Chris Nkosi submits that the e-tolling is harming the poor and working class, who are already struggling with the high cost of living.

August 29, 2014 - Business Unity SA Kgatlaki Ngoasheng informs the panel that Busa is in favour of funding the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) through the fuel levy, which involved the ring-fencing of taxes, as opposed to e-tolling.

September 1, 2014 - The Justice Project SA chairman Howard Dembovsky warns that e-tolls in Gauteng will cripple South Africa's economy.

September 1, 2014 - The Road Safety Campaign's Ali Gule describes the discount offered to motorists by Sanral as “ lucky packets”.

September 2, 2014 - Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance chairman Wayne Duvenage tells the panel that majority of users will not pay for e-tolls and this has rendered the system a failure.

September 9, 2014 - The Star reports that Peters said there would be no review of the user-pays principle. She claimed that Makhura had told her the panel would do an economic analysis of the whole Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project, and not the tolls.

September 15, 2014 - Panel hears public hearings in Soweto.

September 15, 2014 - “There's electricity for the roads but not the people living in shacks next to the highway,” government employee Mbuyisa Manana tells the panel during the Soweto sittings.

October 9, 2014 - Neil Campbell of the Democratic Alliance tells the panel that implementation of e-tolls in Gauteng has led to burdens on other spheres of government.

October 9, 2014 - Economic Freedom Fighters Gauteng caucus leader Mgcini Tshwaku questions the need of the panel, labelling it “a waste of time and misuse of taxpayers' money”.

October 9, 2014 - Inkatha Freedom Party Gauteng leader Bongikosi Dlamini tells the panel that South Africa is capable of coming up with methods other than e-tolls to pay for the GFIP.

October 9, 2014 Freedom Front Plus MP Anton Alberts submits that the technology used by Sanral to collect road users' details is illegal and unapproved.

October 14, 2014 - Chairman for the African National Congress in Gauteng, Paul Mashatile informs the panel that urban tolling will “kill the economy” and the current system needs to be reviewed. He encourages users to continue paying for tolls during the review process.

The panel may decide to have round table meetings with the experts before analysing all the submissions and evidence it has collected.

It will present its findings to Makhura at the end of November.

Sapa

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