Johannesburg - Gauteng premier David Makhura on Sunday would not divulge what recommendations the e-toll review panel because he had not read it yet and did not want to make any rash announcements.
“We don't want to make a mistake,” he told reporters in Johannesburg at the hand over of the report from the review panel.
“In fact one thing the panel says to us is that go and look at what we are recommending, but as you move forward just make sure you do it properly and some of you are expecting that we tell you what is the decision in five minutes. We don't want to make... rash decisions and make another mistake.”
There has been a public outcry over the implementation of e-tolls on Gauteng roads with many motorists refusing to pay their bills.
Panel chairman Professor Muxe Nkondo handed the panel's final report to Makhura at the Emoyeni conference centre in Parktown. He was accompanied by some of the panelists.
The panel was appointed by Makhura in July to examine the economic and social impact of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project and the e-tolling system set up to fund it.
Makhura on Sunday said the provincial government would study the report “seriously” and it would be tabled in the provincial legislature.
“When we speak to national and local government we must know what we are talking about.
The discussions with national and local government was an “officially agreed process”.
“Early in the new year we will conclude our process and make a determination. We will then release the report...,” he said.
Makhura dismissed those who called the review panel a public relations exercise.
“Democracy can never be said to be a PR exercise. We are taking seriously what people have been raising.”
Makhura thanked the panelists for their hard work.
Nkondo, when he handed over the report, thanked the provincial government for putting its “trust and confidence” in the panel.
Sapa