Johannesburg -
Gauteng road users woke up to tolled highways on Tuesday morning after the controversial project finally kicked in after midnight.
But this does not seem to be the end of the road for the anti-tolling lobbyists.
Tuesday will see at least two anti-tolling media briefings - the Congress of South African Trade Unions in Gauteng, which has been protesting against the project to “irritate politicians”, was scheduled to address the media on Tuesday.
The opposition Democratic Alliance also promised to unveil the “next phase” of the political party's anti-tolls campaign on Tuesday.
The Freedom Front Plus on Monday lost a last-ditch effort to put a halt to the project, that could see frequent users spend up to R450 per month. Church leaders vowed on Monday that they would not pay toll fees, and called on others to do the same.
The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) continued to urge motorists to refrain from buying e-tags.
“There is no law that requires road users to buy an e-tag or register with Sanral in order to use Gauteng's freeways,” said Outa chairman Wayne Duvenage.
E-tolls have dominated headlines several times this year, with most media houses covering the opposition to the new electronic tolling system, according to Media Tenor SA.
Analysis conducted by the media research company showed that stories on e-tolls made up 40 percent of coverage on transport-related issues in Gauteng.
The result of the analysis was based on 3 304 statements on e-tolls in the print media and on television news programmes from January 1 to October 30 this year. - Sapa