The bad news is that, despite massive opposition, government is determined the Gauteng tolling will go ahead. The good news is that
plans for more tolls have apparently been shelved. So it does pay to protest after all; what irks, however, is that the government cannot seem to see - or refuses to see - that tolling is double taxation (we already pay towards new roads with every litre of fuel we buy), and tolling in Gauteng will hit every person in this country. Why? Because every company that operates in or through Gauteng and/or has client companies in that province, will face increased costs. And, they will probably pass them on to us.
Meanwhile, the association representing the trawler industry is testy with agriculture and fisheries minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson, who wants to
move the fisheries branch of her department from Cape Town to Pretoria. Doesn't it make sense to have a department and its officials close to the very people - trawler companies, fishermen and so on - with whom they need to be working?
From the blue sea to the blue sky... Despite some unkind soul nicknaming the company Velcro Sky, if everything works out as chief executive Dhevan Pillay says,
Velvet Sky will fly again.
Finally, for all of you in the tourism industry,
nominations for the HICA Business Awards are open, so get your entries in now.
Rod Baker, general manager: content
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contributors-automotive@bizcommunity.com.
Thomas Ingenlath has been appointed vice president design at Volvo Car Corporation, arriving from a position as head of the Volkswagen Design Centre in Potsdam, Germany. Ingenlath will assume the position on 1 July 2012, succeeding Peter Horbury, who is now senior vice president for design at the Geely Group. 
Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa's (FMCSA) Struandale engine plant was recently recognised in Ford's President Awards for its progress in the field of health and safety. 
The days of checking tyre pressure could be a thing of the past thanks to an innovation from Goodyear, which will be publicly demonstrated for the first time at the 2012 Geneva International Motor Show. 
Confrontation is looming between Cosatu and the police over threats that workers will blockade Gauteng's toll gates. 
Plans for new toll roads around Cape Town, in KwaZulu-Natal, and Gauteng are set to be shelved, City Press reported yesterday, Sunday 11 March. 
The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) said on Thursday it noted with concern untruths being propagated by some political and civil organisation leaders trying to gather support for their grievances around e-tolling. 
The private operator of Gauteng's controversial tolls is going to "milk" the public, the Congress of SA Trade Unions said in a memorandum prepared for handing over during its anti-toll protest on Wednesday. 
Government would think twice about entering into another project such as the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project, says Deputy Transport Minister Jeremy Cronin. 
The Congress of SA Trade Unions has more "creative-ways" to make the e-tolling system an epic failure, general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Tuesday. 
