When people see e-tolls, ra idibala (we faint) – Lesufi
Lesufi, during his NCOP address, said e-tolls were not assisting the people of Gauteng and a new course of action was needed to address the issue.
Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi speaks during a media briefing at Mahlube Secondary School in Mamelodi East on 16 October 2017. The MEC’s visit follows an alleged sexual assault of a pupil of the school by one of the school’s private security guards. Picture: Yeshiel Panchia
Gauteng ANC acting premier Panyaza Lesufi has tasked President Cyril Ramaphosa to look into e-tolls as he claims they are not assisting the people of Gauteng.
Lesufi was speaking at the president’s annual national council of provinces address in Alberton on Thursday.
He said the people of Gauteng were clear in their message that they needed to be heard by the government.
A new cause of action is needed to address the challenges faced by our people, according to Lesufi, which he believes the president needed to hear.
“If we can’t bring them [challenges] to your attention, we would have failed to deal with the challenges that face the people of Gauteng. The people of Gauteng are clear and are saying this quite clearly, that when they see e-tolls ra idibala (we faint).
“We are not saying we don’t want to pay e-tolls, we are not saying we are not acknowledging the debt of e-tolls. We really believe that the e-tolls in the current format are not assisting the people of Gauteng… we want to appreciate your gesture and we want to appreciate your willing ear that you are listening to us, working with national government to respond to the issue of e-tolls.”
Lesufi later fielded a point of order from the DA’s Jacques Julius and said the DA needed to be worried.
“If I was a member, Julius and the DA, I wouldn’t be worried about time, I would be worried about what the EFF has said about you, that in Johannesburg and Tshwane you only have mayors, you don’t control the municipality. That’s what should worry you.”
Ramaphosa later took to the podium and said there were more hills to climb in the country.
In his closing remarks, he said there were already various initiatives in Gauteng.
He called on municipalities to prepare to remove obstacles for investment.
“There needs to be coordination between municipalities, [and] provincial and national government to fight obstacles that make it difficult to grow.”
He condemned the growing rise of service delivery protests in the country and said they were a worrying trend which was accompanied by violence.
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