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DA: The e-tolls victory in the Western Cape is a victory for all South Africans

Manny Defreitas
Manny Defreitas

2nd October 2015

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The ruling by the Western Cape High Court to set aside Sanral’s (South African National Roads Agency Limit) decision to go ahead with the Winelands Tolling Project along the N1 and N2 highways is a victory for all South Africans.

In fact, it is the poor that are the most victorious. Unlike the Gauteng government, the Western Cape government and the City of Cape Town, had the guts to fight against this unjust system. If implemented, urban tolling would have a negative impact on the economy in the region. Just like in Gauteng, the people of the Western Cape were not properly consulted about this system. Never since the dawn of democracy have we seen all South Africans uniformly unite against one issue, with the latest body to slam e-tolls being the ANC Youth League.

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What is really shocking however, is the statement made by Sanral spokesman, Vusi Mona who said, after the judgement was passed down this week, that, “If Sanral is not allowed to proceed with the project now, the province, the city and their constituents will not have the upgrades for at least the next 20 years, if at all.” If this is not a threat and Sanral being an outright bully, then I don’t know what is!

As stated in the court papers, the City of Cape Town indicated that over a 30-year concession period the public would pay between R44,9-billion and R48,4-billion in toll fees. Ironically if Sanral undertook the upgrades itself and operated and maintained the highways on a non-tolling basis, the cost would be half of what tolled roads would cost. Sanral’s logic escapes me! They are simply not looking out for, nor serving, the interests of the public but appear to be more interested in appointing a particular concessionaire.

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Since the inception of the GFIP (Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project), government has not been listening to the motorist. Despite a farcical “smoke and mirrors” Gauteng e-Toll Advisory Panel process where hundreds of individuals and organisations gave input and overwhelmingly rejected e-tolls at they currently stand government continues to forge ahead with tolling in Gauteng.

Deputy President Ramaphosa claimed that the costs of the e-tolls reduces the burden on the poor but has yet to prove or explain this. In fact, it is the poor that suffer the most.  As e-toll expenses are passed onto consumers, the poorest are disproportionately the hardest hit.

Government and Sanral simply can’t get away from the fact that this, already expensive, system carries an unnecessary administrative cost for taxpayers. Financing e-tolls through the fuel levy, for example, would mean that administrative costs would be zero! You simply can’t beat that price!

As far back as 2008, two independent studies, one by the Automobile Association of South Africa (AA) and a second by the Southern African Bitumen Association (Sabita) confirmed that Sanral has been misleading the public.

Sanral has consistently argued that a fuel levy to fund road infrastructure and maintenance is insufficient, and that e-tolling is therefore necessary. However, these two independent studies confirm that the fuel levy would provide sufficient funding for the construction and maintenance of our roads and that there is absolutely no need for the wholesale construction of toll roads.

The 2008 AA study revealed that abolishing the dedicated fuel levy in 1988 resulted in significantly less spending on road infrastructure and maintenance, bringing about a marked deterioration of the quality of our roads. It showed that an ideal maintenance budget for roads should have totalled R32-billion in 2008.

The Sabita study indicated that government only spent an average of R7.4-billion per annum on road construction and maintenance between 2003 and 2008. The 2013 Budget Review indicated that income from the fuel levy for the same period averaged more than R21-billion. Questions must be asked why the nearly R14-billion difference was not spend on road maintenance in the first place.

There is simply no getting away from it; e-tolls must go and the sooner government realise this the better.

 

Issued by DA

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