MALALANE – A protest action to raise awareness of the increased tolls concluded peacefully at the Nkomazi Toll Plaza on Monday morning.
It was part of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) campaign for safe, affordable, accessible and efficient public transport and was a response to the increase in fees across the country on March 1.
Toll fees are regulated, approved and gazetted by the transport ministry and are adjusted annually in accordance with the Consumer Price Index.
SAPS and emergency services were on standby at the toll plaza and Trans African Concessions (TRAC) had several protocols and procedures in place to ensure that there was little disruption to traffic. The protest was expected to start at 09:00 and conclude at 14:00, but wound up at around 13:00 with seemingly little effect on the day’s operations and traffic flow.
TRAC communications manager Solange Soares-Nicholson stated that the protest was very peaceful. “There were absolutely no problems. Protesters obeyed picketing regulations, while TRAC provided all that was expected.”
Cosatu protesters handed TRAC a memorandum of demands and gave them five days to respond. According to a press statement, the union “will call for the total scraping of the toll gates in the province.” According to Mr Fidel Mlombo, general secretary of Cosatu in the province, the high cost of toll gates is a burden to poor communities. “We call on government to make public transport accessible and efficient. We want the toll gates to be removed because this is one of the major contributors to food-price increases,” said Mlombo.
Protest action was also held at Middelburg and according to Soares-Nicholson there were more picketers. “At a stage it appeared as if the protest was going to take a turn for the worse, but discussions between TRAC management and Cosatu members prevented this.” That group also handed TRAC a memorandum of demands, with five days to respond.
