Johannesburg - The e-tolling of urban roads is killing the economy of Gauteng.
It was also never the idea of the ANC in Gauteng to toll those roads. The SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) made the decision unilaterally.
This was the unequivocal assertion by Gauteng ANC chairman Paul Mashatile and his delegation to the panel tasked by Gauteng Premier David Makhura to assess the socio-economic effect of e-tolls on Gauteng residents.
“Our strategy was completely against urban tolling. Urban tolling is not a system we designed,” Mashatile said yesterday.
The comments came almost a week after ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe told The Star in an exclusive interview that e-tolling was “a Gauteng product”.
Mantashe said the ANC provincial leadership, which included Mashatile and two former MECs, Ignatius Jacobs and Khabisi Mosunkutu, must “first own up” to e-tolls.
“It’s a Gauteng initiative and not a national initiative, okay? The fact that it is connected to a national agency doesn’t make it a national product… It is disingenuous of the leadership of the same province to disown that issue and want to apportion blame to somebody else,” he said.
Mashatile’s delegation included prominent lawyer Mncedisi Ndlovu – whose law firm, Mncedisi Ndlovu & Sedumedi Attorneys, was instrumental in the implementation of the bus rapid transit system and other Gauteng freeways initiatives.
Detailing the Gauteng tolling strategy, Mashatile said the provincial leadership’s idea was first mooted in 1997, but it did not include the tolling of ring roads leading into the economic active areas of Gauteng.
THE ORIGINAL PLAN
“Our Gauteng tolling strategy included the development of safe public transport and the development of new roads, particularly what we called the development of PWV, as Gauteng was known then. The PWV9 was the development of a road from Pretoria to Bryanston,” Mashatile said.
“The plan also included the creation of high-occupancy vehicle lanes which allow more people to travel in one vehicle. The plan was also to create partnerships with the three big municipalities to share revenue and develop more roads.
“Our strategy was completely against urban tolling. Urban tolling is not a system we designed.”
He said the problem started when their strategy was handed over to Sanral. He claimed Sanral chose e-tolling despite the fact the province still had no proper public-transport infrastructure in place.
“We were not opposed to tolling, but we emphasised the tolling can only happen after the implementation of a safe and reliable public transport.”
The panel was also told Sanral’s e-tolling was negatively affecting higher education students who own cars, small emerging businesses, as well as households.
“Transport inflation has shot up,” Mashatile warned.
FUEL LEVY WAS PROPOSED
The ANC proposed a nominal fuel levy nationally and an increase in motor vehicle licensing fees in Gauteng as an alternative to e-tolls.
The ANC painted a picture of Gauteng being faced with a possible revolt if e-tolls were not scrapped.
“We had the opportunity during our national and provincial elections campaign to engage and interact on a face-to-face basis with several million residents in Gauteng.
“In the majority of these engagements, our people continued to individually or collectively express their unhappiness and dissatisfaction with the prohibitive costs associated with the e-tolls system in its current form.
“They continued to argue that this is an indirect form of personal taxation that is both unfair and burdensome.”
The panel expected to conclude its job by November 30.
The Star