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‘Don’t blame etolling for the high cost of living’

The soaring cost of living is not as a result of e-tolling, South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) said.

Spokesperson Vusi Mona said the increased cost of living was one of the reasons the road agency took its role to provide good and well managed roads seriously, while considering the wider socio-economic impact.

“Because of the controversy and the misinformation surrounding the introduction of e-tolling, it is an easy jump to blame all-round price rises on the way the government has decided to finance the inner Gauteng highways. But that is utterly preposterous,” Mona said. “An all-round increased costs came about due to the rand that declined over time against most currencies, particularly the American dollar. Fuel costs have soared, as all motorists know. So have electricity prices.”

Mona said the government exempted registered public transport from e-tolling, to fend for the poor and the working class.

“Facts are too easily ignored and emotion takes over when e-tolling is discussed,” said Mona.

The government’s commitment to the poor and working class could be best exemplified by its attempts to shield them even more price hikes, “the fact that the highest earning quintile will bear 94 percent of the toll fess and when the second quintile is added, this figure goes up to 99”.

Mona emphasised that the rising fuel price had nothing to do with e-tolling, “what we see, rather, is that those who complain are expressing middle-class views: the quintiles who will indeed bear most of the cost – and can afford to”.

He said the government cared, and further alluded the transport costs of the poor and the workers, that will not be affected once e-tolling commenced.

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