Johannesburg - Massive pressure is mounting on the ANC to force the government to scrap the R29 billion e-tolls system or risk losing the politically prized city of Joburg and other Gauteng metros in the next local government election.
ANC structures in Joburg and Gauteng, as well as provincial formations of its alliance partners, are strongly opposed to e-tolls. This stance has placed them on a collision course with the ANC’s national leadership as well as Transport Minister Dipuo Peters.
Scrapping the e-tolls would have huge negative economic implications for the country, but would greatly boost the ANC’s campaign in the local government election in 2016.
The party battled in Gauteng in the last general election, narrowly winning ahead of the DA and with the newly formed EFF breathing down its neck.
Peters has already displayed unhappiness at a panel set up by Gauteng premier David Makhura to assess the impact of e-tolls on the lives of people in the province. The leadership of the ANC in Gauteng this week told the panel that residents of the province were totally opposed to e-tolls.
Yesterday, hundreds of ANC, Cosatu and SACP members took to the tolled highways to protest. E-tolls and service delivery have become points of focus as the ANC prepares municipalities for the municipal polls.
The ANC lost significant support during the provincial election this year, and the ANC in Gauteng has cited the controversial e-tolling system as having contributed to the decline.
The Ekurhuleni region, which is yet to hold its regional conference, is also expected to support the opposition to e-tolls.
The ANC’s support during the election in the province dropped by 10 percent, with Joburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni garnering 53.63, 50.96 and 56.41 percent respectively.
In his submission to the panel, leader of the ANC in Gauteng Paul Mashatile proposed the introduction of a fuel levy and the increase of vehicle licence fees as possible sources of funding for development and maintenance of road infrastructure in the province.
He told the commission that the province’s interaction with several million residents in the province during the election campaign had indicated that the majority opposed e-tolls.
“Essentially, they are of the view that user costs associated with e-tolling are unusually excessive, unaffordable for sections of the people and wholly unreasonable.
“They also resolved that Gauteng and the country as a whole should find sustainable methods to finance infrastructure development and maintenance,” he said.
The continuing tussle between those opposed to the e-tolls and the national Transport Department has created an unenvisaged clash between the national and provincial governments.
ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa yesterday downplayed suggestions that Gauteng’s position on e-tolls was a sign of internal opposition, saying they were well within their constitutional powers to adopt positions.
“The ANC is a democratic organisation, its structures go to conferences and adopt resolutions and are allowed to do so, and they are practising their democratic right. The Gauteng ANC conference was within its constitutional powers to pronounce on anything in the form of a resolution,” said Kodwa.
He said the process would still be subjected to internal processes.
“After the conference this will then be subjected to internal processes of policy formulation… whether comrades want to propose a review or change.
“So there is no internal opposition within the ANC, and we are not worried (about how the e-tolls might affect the ANC performance in the 2016 election),” said Kodwa.
The Gauteng ANC is also understood to be considering changes in the leadership of its metros to avoid losing control of them in the next local government poll.
While the mayors of two key metros, Tshwane and Joburg, have recently cemented their positions as leaders of the ANC in their specific regions, the provincial leadership is expected to push them to reshuffle their mayoral committees.
In a trend that started at the Gauteng provincial conference, where leadership was elected unopposed, Tshwane mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa and Joburg mayor Parks Tau were both elected uncontested as the chairmen of their respective regions. So were the rest of the top five in the two regions.
On the West Rand, former acting provincial secretary Boyce Maneli was also elected uncontested for the position of regional chairman, consolidating the provincial leadership’s dominance in the province. The Ekurhuleni and Sedibeng regions are the only ones that have not held regional conferences, but they are expected to be held before the end of the year.
Several provincial leaders have suggested the province’s assessment of the electoral threats it faces in municipalities points to “the need to strengthen the teams leading those municipalities”.
With opposition parties targeting these metros and the emergence of the Economic Freedom Fighters putting pressure on the ANC, the party faces a real threat of losing the metros come 2016. “It is very urgent that we address what is happening at all the municipalities, focusing specifically on the metros. Looking at how we performed in this year’s elections, we only barely managed to get 50 percent in all the metros.
“We must look at the teams leading those municipalities, so reshuffles are not out of the question. We are very vulnerable in the metros and that is where the opposition is focusing its attacks.
“The fight for Midvaal is also far from over, it must be regained but the DA will not lie and die,” said one provincial leader. As the Joburg regional conference took off this week, Tau said the party would look at the drop in its electoral support, admitting that the rise of the EFF was a threat in Joburg.
“Since 1994, the emergence of new parties who broke away from the ANC has impacted on our electoral support.
“In the May elections, both the ANC and DA dropped (in) support due to the impact of new parties. In most of the instances, it was a flash in the pan.
“We are also going to dissect the electoral performance of all the political parties in Joburg,” Tau said.
The party also wanted to discuss the violent service delivery protests and water shortages that had plagued much of the city.
Sunday Independent