The SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) has vowed to stop the Gauteng e-tolling system in its tracks.
The union said on Thursday the statement made at the Johannesburg Press Club this week by SA National Roads Agency Ltd CEO Nazir Alli was “delusional ranting”.
Alli said the e-tolling system would benefit motorists.
But Satawu disagrees.
“This e-tolling monster is economically disastrous, lacked public participation in the planning phases, and demonstrates the unilateral heavy-handedness that has come to characterise the Department of Transport dealings with the public and organised labour,” said Satawu spokeswoman Reagoikanya Molopyane.
She said the union had not been consulted on the development of the toll roads and felt it was not being taken seriously by Minister of Transport S’bu Ndebele.
“We have been treated with disdain and arrogance,” said Molopyane.
She said Satawu believed the toll roads lacked vision, direction and investigation, and that the billions spent on the toll system would have been better spent upgrading the bus and rail systems.
Molopyane said there would probably be a huge knock-on effect when the tolls were implemented, and small and medium enterprises would suffer the most.
“Very soon, small businesses will be sending us letters, notifying us that they will have to retrench workers,” she said.
“And how can Nazir Alli have the nerve to say this system will benefit us when the MEC for transport in Gauteng said last month that 31 percent of the roads in the province are in a poor condition and need repair.”
Molopyane said the tolls would force people off the freeways and onto suburban roads, which were already in a bad condition.
“Why are they pushing this system on us so much? Are they benefiting personally from this?” she wondered.
She said Satawu would not physically take down the gantries, but it was planning mass action that would hit the entire transport sector.
She said the union had 165 000 members who worked at SA Airways, road freight, rail and for companies running passenger buses.
“If we go on strike there will be no petrol and no food; 80 percent of all goods travel via road and rail,” Molopyane said.
She said Satawu would ask other unions and Cosatu to join it “in order to destroy the tolls”.
The union said it would wait for Ndebele to make his final decision on the e-tolling. If he went ahead it would go on strike. - The Star