E-tolls: Way forward for payers and non-payers to be announced

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula is expected to provide answers next week to questions on what will happen to those who have been paying and those who are in debt to the now defunct Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) e-toll system.

Mbalula‘s spokesperson Lwaphesheya Khoza said he, the provincial government and the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) would provide a detailed account of the implementation plan.

“It will discuss what will happen with those who paid their e-tolls and those who did not,” she said.

Minister scraps e-tolls

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana on Wednesday said e-tolls were “closed” as a method of funding the hugely overpriced 201km GFIP.

It was understood national government would pick up 70% of the debt incurred by the Sanral and the Gauteng government will cover the remaining 30%.

NOW READ: End of e-tolls will ‘compel govt to establish alternative funding’ for freeway improvement project

Freedom Front Plus views

Freedom Front Plus national chair Anton Alberts said Mbalula still needed to formally abolish the system.

Alberts said all Godongwana did in his medium term budget policy statement was transfer the “poisoned chalice” of the costs of developing the e-toll system and upgrading the Gauteng highway from Sanral to national and Gauteng taxpayers.

“How the debt will be financed remains an open question,” he said.

“The hated e-toll system is not officially dead yet, so the pressure on the ANC to finally put an end to it must be maintained, and likewise, to hold those who created this monster accountable.”

Alberts said the party also wanted to determine whether there were sufficient legal grounds for those who paid e-tolls to recover those funds through a class action. He said a few years ago, they discovered by means of parliamentary questions the e-toll system’s measuring instruments were never certified by the standard authorities.

“So, it was technically functioning unlawfully for quite some time. Any funds collected during this time must be paid back,” he said.

“If it is found that the entire process of creating and implementing the e-toll system was unlawful, then all funds collected since the inception of the system must be paid back.”

Funding road maintenance

Automobile Association spokesperson Layton Beard said the scrapping of e-tolls as a funding mechanism for the GFIP was a victory for Gauteng motorists, but the focus must now shift to how the Gauteng government will fund road maintenance and development.

“Godongwana indicated the provincial government could use a variety of mechanisms to raise this money.”

NOW READ: E-tolls gone for good, now to tackle crime and corruption – Lesufi