Still no decision over future of e-tolls
This despite utterances made by the Gauteng government during a radio interview on Thursday morning.
Despite utterances by provincial government over the scrapping of e-tolls in the province on Thursday morning, national government has reiterated that no decision has been made.
“It is important to note that currently no decision has been made regarding the future of e-tolls,” national transport department spokesperson Ayanda Allie-Paine said.
“At the moment, the transport minister is responsible for ensuring that beyond a determination of whether the e-tolls are scrapped or not, proper decisions are made with regard to how road infrastructure roll-out and maintenance in this country will be financed.”
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The national department’s remarks came after Gauteng roads and transport MEC Jacob Mamabolo said they had decided to scrap e-tolls during a radio interview.
However, Allie-Paine said Mamabolo’s remarks were only a “provincial” view.
“We are of the view that the MEC has made it quite clear that he articulated during the interview, is a provincial position of Gauteng, which is not a new matter at all,” she said.
“Our understanding is that this is the position which Gauteng is lobbying the national government to adopt on e-tolls and we respect that.”
She added that transport minister Fikile Mbalula would make an announcement on the future of e-tolls “once all they needed to finalise had been finalised”.
During the radio interview, Mamabolo said e-tolls would be scrapped in the province.
“E-tolls are a thing of the past and we are just waiting for that to be formalised and confirmed,” he said in the interview.
He also said that while an announcement should have already been made, they were waiting upon imminent “good news” about e-tolls.
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