After years of delays, authorities is lastly anticipated to make an announcement on the best way ahead for e-tolls in Gauteng throughout Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) in late October.
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But, says the Automobile Association (AA), until authorities terminates e-tolls, the system will proceed to fail.
The Association says authorities should additionally reimburse those that have been paying all these years and cancel excellent debt.
“Mr Godongwana is now best-placed to deal decisively with e-tolls and scrap the system once and for all. Continuing with e-tolls, in whatever form, will yield the same poor results and will further harden people’s views on a failing system,” says the AA.
Since its introduction in December 2013, the fee of e-tolls for the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) has been a contentious subject with many motorists within the province refusing to pay. Their assertion then, as it’s now, is that authorities should fund the GFIP by way of different means, probably a ring-fencing of some of the income collected by way of the General Fuel Levy (GFL).
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The AA’s 2019 Road Funding Report through which highway funding fashions globally are examined is offered HERE
“In our meeting with the Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula in August 2019, we communicated our findings that payment compliance is low, and that motorists in the province have taken a principled stance not to pay e-tolls. Mr Mbalula indicated at that meeting that a decision on the future of e-tolls would be forthcoming the following March. This never materialised and several dates put forward by him to clarify the future of e-tolls have since come and gone. In June this year, Mr Mbalula indicated that Mr Godongwana would clarify the future e-tolls in his MTBPS, a date we trust will be kept,” says the AA.
AA has launched on-line petition to scrap e-tolls
The Association says the delays in making an announcement on e-tolls trigger confusion and contribute to extra folks refusing to pay. It says it believes that individuals who continued to pay e-tolls have since stopped and studies now counsel fee compliance ranges to be under 18%, lower than half of the reported excessive compliance charge of 40% in 2014.
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“In any event if government keeps the current system in place it is doomed to fail. Our position is clear: government must allocate funds from existing revenue channels to the GFIP rather than continue to turn to already embattled motorists to finance the system. Motorists correctly question government spending in many areas including, for instance, huge salaries and bonusses to executives at poorly run State-Owned Enterprises, while they are being asked time and again to make contributions on top of the taxes they’re already paying,” notes the AA.
The Association says it’s going to proceed to foyer for the termination of e-tolls by way of official channels. In addition, it has launched an online petition urging motorists within the province to add their voice to requires the scrapping of e-tolls.
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“Motorists in Gauteng have already, effectively, cast their vote against e-tolls by not paying. But we must reinforce that message. We have launched an online campaign where people can directly petition the Ministers of Transport and Finance to compel them to reconsider moving forward with e-tolls. Each petition submitted is a vote for transparency, accountability and the proper allocation of state resources, and we urge all motorists to #JoinTheMovement and #SupportTheCause,” says the AA.
