Still no progress in scrapping of e-tolls
Wayne Duvenage of Outa says that until the e-toll system is formally turned off, everything that the Gauteng Premier and others have stated on this issue remains “empty words”.
Pretoria residents will be frustrated to hear that there have been no updates on the e-toll scrapping situation since the beginning of the year.
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi promised that the e-toll system would be “formally turned off” in February.
However, four months later it is seems the system continues to be operational, much to the frustration of many motorists.
Wayne Duvenage, from the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), told Rekord he was not surprised.
“There has been no change whatsoever since October last year,” he said.
“We have heard these updates over and over for many years and nothing changes. We aren’t even surprised anymore.”
Duvenage said until the e-toll system is formally scrapped by turning it off, everything that the Gauteng Premier and others have stated on this issue remain “empty words”.
He has called on the National Treasury, the minister of transport, Sanral, and the Gauteng provincial government to help bring the system to an end.
SANRAL HASN’T RECIEVED ANY UPDATES
Vusi Mona, spokesperson for Sanral, confirmed to Rekord that they also haven’t received any updates on the scrapping of the system.
AfriForum have similarly fought against the system and encouraged their members not to pay e-toll fines.
In October last year, they donated R100 000 in a court case to declare the system illegal.
According to Outa, e-toll compliance was at only 17.65%, with the scheme running up to R9.7-billion in uncollectable debt from motorists.
Many of these motorists have refused to pay their e-toll bills since December 2013.
The Transport Department introduced e-tolling in December 2013 as a measure to collect money to pay for the huge loan Sanral made to upgrade Gauteng highways.
ALSO READ: E-tolls are a thing of a past – GP government
Do you have more information about the story?
Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram
