E-toll opponents have spoken out against minister Dipuo Peters' statement today that the review panel set up by Gauteng premier David Makhura has no bearing on government's controversial open-road tolling project.
This comes after a 15-member review panel was set up by Makhura to probe the socio-economic impact of the e-tolling system in June.
Peters says government will not renege on its plan to recover funds for the multibillion-rand Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project through electronic tolling across the province's highways.
The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (OUTA) has expressed concern around Peters' comments that the e-toll decision will not be scrapped, saying her sentiment essentially means Makhura's efforts "must now be considered as a waste of time".
OUTA chairman Wayne Duvenage questions why the ANC would give its blessing to the Gauteng premier's initiative, "if indeed the minister appears to be intent on rejecting the pertinent and valuable information expected to come from this exercise, before it has been examined?"
Joint OUTA spokesperson John Clarke says, while the Gauteng premier may lack the political authority to scrap e-tolls, it is the Gauteng provincial economy that will determine its viability. "If the economics of e-tolling are not right, the mustering of all the executive powers will be a futile exercise. The ruling party in Cabinet and the National Assembly would have more chance of successfully repealing the law of gravity than to force e-tolling to work, because the economics of it simply makes no sense and the majority of the people are having nothing to do with it.
"Just because the gantry lights are on, doesn't mean the system is working. It needs to be effective in raising the necessary funds to be successful, and that horse has long bolted."
Showdown shutdown
Meanwhile, Justice Project SA (JPSA) has expressed disappointment in what it says is Peters' choice to "come out in public and rubbish the e-tolls review panel on the socio-economic impact of e-tolling in Gauteng without so much as letting this democratic process run its course".
JPSA chairman Howard Dembovsky says neither Makhura, nor the review panel, has created any impression of any predetermined outcome. "It is disingenuous of Peters to suggest that it has. You simply can't blame people for holding out the hope that national government may come to its senses and finally listen to the people who are not saying 'we don't want to pay for roads', but are saying 'this particular cash cow doesn't want to - nor can it - constantly be milked until it bleeds.".
Dembovsky says no one denies provincial government has no authority to override national government policy. "However, SA is on a very slippery slope when national government takes a decision to again stick its fingers in its ears, while leaving one finger free to flip in the direction of the public who are affected by its decisions and policies. In so doing, minister Peters has given credence to claims by naysayers that the e-tolls review panel is nothing more than eyewash."
Last week, JPSA presented to the e-tolls review panel what it sees as a "looming socio-economic disaster" of the SA National Roads Agency, the National Prosecuting Authority and national government "creating a nation of unemployable, over-indebted, artificial criminals through prosecuting them for non-payment of e-tolls".
If this is not averted, says JPSA, sooner or later a showdown is going to occur and there will be no winners. "The economy of Gauteng and SA as a whole will find itself in ruins and dreams of sub-6% unemployment by 2030 will be shattered."
Department of Transport spokesperson Tiyani Rikhotso says e-toll opponents' statements amount to a lot of hot air, in that Makhura was clear from the start that the e-toll panel was set up purely for the sake of a socio-economic assessment on the project - rather than a review with an aim to scrapping the system.
"The statement made by [Peters] is nothing new. From the beginning it was clear that the provincial process would have no bearing on national legislation. There has been a lot of false hope created, but there has never been any [insinuation] that the e-toll system would be scrapped."
To read premier David Makhura's full budget vote speech go to: http://www.gov.za/speeches/view.php?sid=46341.
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