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As the date approaches for the hearing on Gauteng's e-tolling system on 11 November 2011, the Congress of South African Trade Unions urges the Minister of Transport, Sibusiso Ndebele, to clarify whether or not his announcement of a halt on work on toll roads includes scrapping the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Plan (GFIP), where e-tolling is set to start in February 2012, or whether it only applies to future toll roads.

The Gauteng Legislature, which is organising the hearing, has said that “Various organisations representing thousands of workers, communities and a political party... [COSATU, SANCO and the DA] ...have submitted petitions on the current tolling system within the province. Concerns raised about these toll gates are centred on affordability to those using them, as well as lack of consultation during the preconstruction phases... Gauteng Legislature believes that it is through this process that parties will begin finding a solution to the toll gates impasse in the province.”

There will however be no solution to the impasse if objectors at the hearing are told the current tolling project is going ahead anyway, and they can only raise issues about future tolling plans, in which case this hearing will be a futile exercise.
COSATU will insist at the hearing that e-tolling has never been properly debated and has certainly not been accepted by the people of Gauteng.

The current tolling project must be scrapped. The tolls will mean a steep increase in the cost of living of all road users, especially workers who have no alternative but to drive to work because of the lack of a proper public transport system. They already pay taxes and a fuel levy every time they buy petrol.
They will cause price rises in the shops to cover the increased cost of transporting goods, and some transport and retail companies may even be forced out of business and have to retrench workers because of their increased costs.
The Saturday Star has revealed that the Gauteng government was warned four years ago, in a report from a local law firm and an international traffic and transport management company, of the implications of the open tolling scheme if public transport was not improved. The report said the freeway improvements should be considered in relation to the overall transport context, including rail based transport and buses. This advice was ignored.

Minister Ndebele has now accepted the same basic arguments as those opposed to the tolls. He said that, while the country requires good road infrastructure to meet its economic growth targets, this shouldn't put a huge financial burden on the shoulders of consumers... [It] must not leave our people even poorer.”

If that argument applies to the rest of South Africa, then why are the people of Gauteng to be forced to become 'even poorer' through paying the tolls regardless of their views?

COSATU fully agrees with the South African Municipal Workers Union that the toll road saga, and how it was handled, is an example of what a government in any normal democracy should never do... “Apart from just halting the toll road projects, government must investigate as to who was responsible for steam-rolling these projects past all the relevant processes. This for us is highly suspicious, given the amounts of money involved in the various toll road projects.” They will generate huge profits for those who have installed and will be running this R20bn system.
COSATU has issued a notice under Section 77 of the Labour Relations Act and negotiations on this are to continue in Nedlac. If there is no change in policy from government and the negotiations deadlock, we shall be planning marches, demonstrations, pickets and stayaways, and taking strike action if the tolls are not scrapped.
We are confident that thousands of other Gauteng residents will be joining us in these protests. We shall also consider court action if people are discriminated on the basis of geography. We shall continue to demand as the alternative to tolled roads, an integrated, safe, reliable and affordable public transport system.
As SAMWU says: “Ignoring the interests of the working class can be catastrophic.”