E-tolls are a thing of a past – GP government

The Gauteng government has reassured its residents that e-tolls will be a thing of the past.

Spokesperson Vuyo Mhanga told Rekord on Tuesday that the scrapping has been confirmed by finance minister Enoch Godongwana and Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi.

“E-tolls are gone, only gazette-to-decommission is outstanding,” Mhanga said.

The reassurance by the government comes after DA Gauteng shadow MEC for roads and transport Fred Nel accused the government of being economical with the truth with regards to the e-toll saga.

Nel said residents were told that they will no longer pay for e-tolls.

“The government said the gantries will be switched off and this unwanted system will be a thing of the past,” the MPL said.

He further mentioned that, according to the Inclusive Society Institute (ISI), the South African national road agency (Sanral) did not have the constitutional right to write off the incurred e-toll debt.

However, Sanral through its spokesperson Vusi Mona said it has at no point communicated that it intended to write off the e-toll debt for road users.

Mona said the agency would be guided by the official task team working on the practical implementation of the decision to scrap e-tolls.

“The team is made up of the Department of Transport, National Treasury, Gauteng government and Sanral.

“The task team reports to the relevant political principals – ministers of transport and finance as well as the premier,” he said.

In addition, Mona said the agency has not yet received an instruction from this joint committee of political principals, which firmly indicates the way forward.

When asked about the possibility of scrapping the e-tolls Outa spokesperson Wayne Duvenage said the entire fiasco was a mess, adding that the provincial government had said it will scrap the scheme six months ago but to date, the gantries are still operational.

“They have tested to switch the scheme off and gazetted the amendment of the initial gazette that declared the toll roads. Then the issue of premier Lesufi making a comment that users who have paid their e-toll bills will be refunded, was indeed an irresponsible comment to make, without having cleared this with the minister of transport, the minister of finance and Sanral,” said Duvenage.

Nel said it was worrying that the proposed financial model which sought to replace e-tolls was still not finalised.

“This means this province has committed to debt for which it has no idea how to service. Inevitably funds will be taken away from other departments, and service delivery in the province will continue to suffer,” he concluded.

He said that the DA was not in favour of any idea that will increase the current taxes or fees to fund the e-toll debt.

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