More e-toll exemptions planned

The SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) is finalising a method for emergency vehicles to be exempt from the e-tolling system.

Transport minister Sibusiso Ndebele, in response to a parliamentary question, said Sanral historically allowed emergency vehicles to obtain toll authority cards if they are delivering a service on freeways. He added that, due to previous misuse by some of these card holders, Sanral is finalising a different approach for the Gauteng project.

“This approach is far advanced and will be communicated when finalised with some of the more predominant role players. In short, the route followed will depend on whether the vehicle is privately-owned, or owned directly by local government.

If privately-owned, the user can, through a specific process that requires approval by the specific government entity, be credited for those transactions that were made for official purposes. The vehicle must be fitted with an e-tag in order to manage this process and to prevent fraud from taking place. If it is registered in the name of the local authority, they can apply as per the same process for toll authority cards to be exempted, according to the minister. Official local government service delivery vehicles are not exempted from the payment of tolls.

The South African Municipal Workers' Union (Samwu) says the contentious e-tolling system is ill-conceived, likely to have corrupt elements attached to it and is too expensive for the majority of the country.

Samwu says municipal workers will sacrifice a day's wage for the greater good and encourage others to do the same. “Both unionised and non-unionised members of society will be able to take part in the protest action scheduled for Wednesday. Cosatu has obtained two certificates to allow for this. Workers across all sectors will be able to walk off their jobs, to participate in the noble protest action and will not face any repercussions, as the protest action is both legal and protected.”

Apart from scrapping the toll project, the union says government must investigate who was responsible for steam-rolling it past public and stake holder consultation, as well as all the relevant checks and balances. “This for us is highly suspicious, given the amounts of money involved in the various toll road projects.”

The implementation of the e-tolling system in Gauteng is a pilot project which, if unchallenged, will spread throughout the country, says Cosatu. “We note the exemption of taxis from paying but that is not enough as there are many workers and unemployed people who use their vehicles for income generation. This system will not help them, but it will simply push them out of the roads as they will not afford to spend so much money for using the roads. We must send a clear message that we do not want e-tolling as it is an attempt to privatise our roads and use them for profit maximisation.

Business Unity SA (Busa) says, while it appreciates efforts to reduce the impact of the programme on the economy, it regrets the matter has now become “non-negotiable”.

“Constructive engagement would have been preferable to industrial action. The decisions around urban road tolls have been plagued by inadequate consultation, as a result of which much goodwill and support has been forfeited. The issue is now not so much around the user-pays principle, than the inordinately high administrative costs associated with this particular project, which has not been addressed in the proposed solution. The controversy around the Gauteng e-tolls again emphasises the need for effective prior consultation on the financing of infrastructural development in SA.”