E-toll costs are prohibitive for motorists

ANC Gauteng Chairman Paul Mashatile says that e-tolls are prohibitively expensive and that Gauteng residents cannot afford to pay them. Image: ArtThrob

ANC Gauteng Chairman Paul Mashatile led a delegation to make the party's submission to the e-toll review panel‚ put in place by Premier David Makhura.

"The costs of e-tolls are prohibitive. The system is just too costly‚" Mashatile told the panel. "People tend to protest and revolt if they think that the policies of those in charge are unjust."

The ANC in Gauteng took a decision to make a submission to the panel at its provincial conference two weeks ago. The provincial ANC rejected e-tolls in its current form and warned that the costs associated with electronic tolls were likely to increase fourfold in the coming years.

ANC Provincial Executive Committee Member Brian Hlongwa warned that if e-tolls remained in place in their current form‚ there would be a revolt by the people of Gauteng.

Mashatile said the administrative costs of running the system were also too high. The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) placed the administrative costs at 17c for every rand collected‚ but lobby group Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) said it was as high as 26c.

Mashatile said it was clear that in the long run‚ because of the high administrative costs coupled with the debt Sanral had to pay back‚ there was little evidence to support the view that any benefits will go to Gauteng road users.

"There is no evidence that there are plans to create new roads. The administrative costs leave little to fund the beneficial element‚" he said.

The ANC in Gauteng's stance on e-tolls is partly informed by its analysis of the 2014 elections‚ which showed that the contentious system cost the party votes. However‚ it had long raised concern about the project‚ but alleges that it was ignored by national government.

Source: BDPro via I-Net Bridge