Despite a protracted legal battle, mass civil action and what has been described as the biggest hue and cry by society in SA's new era, e-tolls are a reality every motorist travelling on Gauteng's highways now faces - just ahead of the festive season.
While the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) has welcomed what it says is the "good news" that e-tolling will go live in about 12 days and is expecting a "smooth beginning" to toll collection, several factions have voiced their distaste and concerns over a system they feel wronged by.
Social media platforms, too, bear testament to an overwhelming feeling of bitterness on the part of civil society, with renewed threats of anarchy and vandalism of gantries. Many say the advent of e-tolls will put a damper on what would usually have been a season of joy and festivity.
Twitter has been flooded with posts conveying sentiments of indignation and anger, with #Etolls still trending this morning, since early yesterday afternoon, just after transport minister Dipuo Peters announced D-Day for open road tolling in Gauteng.
Good news
Confident and happy with the minister's news, Sanral says it can now "get on with its business" - building, improving and maintaining SA's national road network.
Sanral CEO Nazir Alli says the state-owned roads agency can now service the debt it has incurred in the course of executing the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP), now that there is certainty around tolling in Gauteng.
"The tolling system is up and running at the moment and we, therefore, expect a smooth beginning to actually collecting tolls on the GFIP."
In the agency's defence, Alli notes that of the more than 700 000km of roads in the country, only 19 704km are part of the national network and thus Sanral's responsibility. "Of the latter only 16% are tolled - some 3 120km. Of the tolled roads, only 201km form part of the GFIP. The figures are important to keep a proper perspective."
Sanral has also offered consolation to motorists who do not want to pay e-toll fees by saying there are alternative routes they can take to avoid the 45 gantries across Gauteng.
The agency is encouraging motorists to get an e-tag, now that uncertainty is out of the way, and is confident e-tag sales will climb heftily now that a solid go-live date has been set.
"[Getting tagged] is the right thing to do and also easier and cheaper than using the roads without a tag," says Alli.
'Shocking rejection'
The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) - which has fought tooth and nail in court to thwart government's e-toll system - says Peters' announcement yesterday represents "a shocking rejection of society" and has expressed its "profound disappointment" with government's decision to proceed with e-tolling.
"The minister's announcement that e-tolls will commence on 3 December has hugely ominous consequences for our country. E-tolling is a complex system and simply cannot succeed without a very high level of voluntary and committed compliance."
Outa chairman Wayne Duvenage says he is concerned the executive arm of government has failed to take society into its confidence - sowing seeds of what he fears will go down in history as a very costly failure in the process. He says this is something that could have been avoided.
"There has been massive rejection from across the board - labour, business, the churches and civil society at large - yet the authorities simply continue to ignore this issue. It is extremely sad that minister Peters seems to have been lulled into a dangerous sense of self-deception by the advocates of e-tolling."
Outa believes society has every right to be angry with government's e-toll decision. "It is one that has lacked a meaningful public engagement process, one that has lacked transparency, one that has provided society with misleading information, one that is too costly and grossly enriches private offshore companies, and one that the people simply do not trust."
Sanral and the Department of Transport (DOT) maintain the relevant parties followed legal and adequate processes in the execution of e-tolling - and say the majority of e-toll money will not end up offshore.
Duvenage says: "Outa will shortly convey new initiatives to empower society with civil courage to stand fast and reject this ill-conceived policy."
He points out it is not a legal requirement to get e-tags. "People must do what they believe is right to resist this farce."
Meanwhile, the Congress of SA Trade Unions is calling on society not to purchase e-tags in a demonstration of their disfavour with open road tolling.
Agang SA has described government's decision to press on with e-tolling despite the ongoing public outcry around the project as "arrogant and vexatious", and says there is insufficient provision of alternatives - either by way of roads or integrated public transport - forcing motorists to use the tolled highways.
"A question the government and Sanral have persistently refused to adequately address is how they are going to deal with motorists who choose not to register for e-tags nor pay toll fees. They want to make us all criminals. But, how will compliance be enforced? How will the courts handle hundreds of thousands of cases?"
Alli says the courts will not be over-flooded with criminal cases and is confident the system will bode well, given Sanral's long history of operating in this space. The Sanral Act, he points out, has been in place since 1998 - meaning the agency has had the mandate to prosecute offenders for 15 years already.
Moeketsi Mosoa, political director of Agang SA, says the party is "one" with the people of Gauteng and Outa in taking a stand and supporting all legal protest against e-tolls.
The Democratic Alliance (DA), which has filed papers with the High Court to have the Bill that legalises e-tolling reclassified, says yesterday was a "sad day for this province and for SA". DA mouthpiece Mmusi Maimane believes e-tolling will not stop at Gauteng, and government is bound to roll the system out to other provinces as well.
The DA is still awaiting a hearing date for its legal contest of the Transport Laws and Related Matters Amendment Bill (the e-toll Bill).
Freedom Front Plus (FF+) parliamentary spokesperson Anton Alberts says Peters is "blackmailing and misleading the public with her threats". The party continues to fight the e-tolls in court and last week filed an application with the High Court to have the E-toll Act declared unconstitutional.
"It appears as if government is purposefully trying to mislead the public. The ANC has for the first time collided with the public's opposition, from across the whole political spectrum, against e-tolls and it will without a doubt be reflected in next year's election results," says Alberts.
The QuadPara Association of SA says yesterday's announcement of the e-tolls commencement data has forced the disability sector to vigorously fight "this discriminatory infrastructure which will immobilise the disability community".
The association previously pointed out that Gauteng's disabled contingent will be at a disadvantage when motorists' willingness and generosity dissipates with the implementation of e-tolling. The association says it has engaged with Sanral about its concerns numerous times, but has been ignored.
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