State-owned SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) has spoken out against e-toll critics, and says the system ultimately favours the poor - while Gauteng's middle-class will bear most of the cost.
This follows SA's mounting cost of living - exacerbated this week by the latest petrol price hike.
Vusi Mona, Sanral's communication manager, says the increased cost of living is one of the reasons Sanral has taken its role of providing good roads seriously, "while considering the wider socio-economic impact".
Absurd accusations
Mona says the fact that the cost of living has been on an upward slope in SA has nothing to do with e-tolling. "The cost of living has been steadily going up - but that is not as a result of e-tolling starting. The rise began some time ago and it has been steady."
Mona says people allow emotion to take over when the topic of e-tolls comes up, and facts are too easily ignored.
"Because of the controversy and the misinformation surrounding the introduction of e-tolling, it is an easy jump to blame all-round price rises on the way the government has decided to finance the inner Gauteng highways. But that is utterly preposterous.
"All-round increased costs have come about because the rand fell so sharply and over time against most currencies, but particularly the American dollar. Fuel costs have soared, as all motorists know. So have electricity prices."
Caring for the poor
Mona says to fend as much for the poor and the working class as possible, government has exempted registered public transport from e-tolling.
"The government's commitment to the poor and its continuing attempts to shield the poor and the workers from even more price hikes can best be exemplified by the fact that the highest earning quintile will bear 94% of the toll fees and when the second quintile is added, this figure goes up to 99%.
"So when you pull up at a fuel pump, the higher price you pay has nothing to do with e-tolling. What we see, rather, is that those who complain are expressing middle-class views: the quintiles that will indeed bear most of the cost - and can afford to.
"The government cares - that is why the transport costs of the poor and the workers will not be affected once e-tolling commences," Mona concludes.
Not na"ive
Meanwhile, the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance continues its crusade against e-tolling and all it stands for.
The body, which is set to appear in the Supreme Court of Appeal on 25 and 26 September to fight e-toll implementation, says the public will not be fooled by what it says are charm offensives on Sanral's part.
Outa chairperson Wayne Duvenage says: "Following hints and speculation of reduced e-toll tariffs as a possible charm offensive tactic by Sanral, Outa has previously stated its expectation of such a move by the authorities. Reduced tariffs, however, come with more questions and problems than solutions.
"The first concern with a reduction in e-toll tariffs at this stage, is why now? Where was this money going to go to in the first place? Have the collection costs suddenly been reduced or is this a case of trying to force a thinner edge of the wedge into the door of public acceptance?
"Sugar-coating the pill now merely prolongs that pain that society will have to endure later, unless of course there will be more transfers from treasury under renegotiation of the contracts to significantly reduce the costs of collection."
Duvenage says South African road users are prepared to pay for the Gauteng freeway upgrade, "but they and this country's prosperity can do so without inefficient, costly and grossly cumbersome e-toll plan".
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