From Rand Daily Mail newswire
Government’s new dispensation for e-tolls “is an admission that the mass campaign against e-tolls is winning and the system is collapsing”‚ said former secretary general of the Congress of South African Trade Unions Zwelinzima Vavi.
Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Wednesday toll fees for unregistered users will be reduced by almost half and payment linked to licence disc renewal.
The government is also cutting the maximum amount for toll fees on highways in Gauteng from R450 to R225.
This‚ said Vavi‚ won’t lead to an increase in payment.
“On the contrary‚ drivers will smell victory for their campaign of resistance, and be more determined to resist until this hated tax is withdrawn completely‚” he said.
“The campaign against e-tolls was never just in opposition to the amount being tolled but to the principle of turning a basic public service into a commodity.”
Government hopes the new dispensation will restore confidence in roads agency Sanral that has suffered a double whammy of nonpayment by road users and a bond market rebuff.
Vavi said the toll system “is clearly collapsing” and “Sanral is facing a revenue shortfall of about R390-million because of drivers’ failure or refusal to pay tolls”.
Toll operator Electronic Toll Collection is controlled by the Austrian company Kapsch TrafficCom, and said in February 2014 it had taken a R112-million write-down on part of compensation it was due to receive from Sanral to maintain and run the system‚ Vavi said.
He scoffed at Ramaphosa’s claim that government will make up this shortfalls by offering car owners a 60% discount to settle their bills.
“If they do not pay he is hinting – threatening? — that non-payers will not be issued with vehicle licence discs.”
If true such blackmail would “only make motorists angrier and more determined not to pay”.
