The strong public reaction against e-tolling on the Gauteng freeways was the “first tax revolt I have witnessed in South Africa”, said Momentum Asset Management chief strategist Gordon Smith on Thursday. “And it took a trade union to force government’s hand.”

He added that government probably had not expected the level of trade union opposition it had been receiving on the Gauteng toll project, but noted that trade union leaders and members could these days be found “living in Fourways”, driving expensive cars.

Speaking at a vehicle sales breakfast hosted by Ford, Smith added that a 95 grade petrol price of R12.22/l was forcing people to declare that “enough [was] enough”.

He believed that this sentiment might also flow through to vehicle purchases, with consumers continuing “shifting down” to buy cheaper vehicles using less fuel.

Smith said a silver lining of the public protest against the start of tolling on Gauteng’s freeways was that it had now become unlikely that similar projects would be rolled out elsewhere in the country “anytime soon”.

However, the bad news was that the Gauteng e-toll project was, in his opinion, likely to go ahead once President Jacob Zuma was re-elected party leader at the African National Congress (ANC) conference at the end of the year.

“The project will be put back on track soon. The investment has been made, the money spent. Government has invested too much to backtrack on Gauteng e-tolling now.”

Smith also noted that it would be difficult for especially the northern Johannesburg suburbs to plead poverty in terms of paying tolls, as the area's capital income was higher than that of Singapore.

“This city is a honeypot and government has gone sufficiently far enough into the hive to get the money.”

Smith added that he, as an economist, believed that e-tolling had to happen.

Last-minute court action by the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance on April 28 saw the Pretoria High Court decide to put the controversial e-toll system, scheduled to come into effect April 30, on hold with immediate effect.

Negotiations between the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the ANC also saw government announce that the system would be put on ice as it mulls the matter further.