e-Tolls back into court – DA, ANC swap sides over “network of patronage”
There are delicious ironies around the e-toll controversy in Gauteng. But none top the political one where the ruling ANC is fighting for the imposition and the official opposition against. It should actually be the other way around. The ruling party, after all, is led by a committed socialist who eschews the market economy through a deep but misguided belief that prices are and must be determined by the cost of labour inputs. And the user-pay principle at the core of the e-tolls wouldn't sit well with many inside the governing party. On the other side, the DA ostensibly supports free enterprise.But so numerous and substantial is this particular "network of patronage" that the politicians have swapped ideological sides. When historians reflect on the period of inevitable change South Africans are now living through, they are sure to earmark the e-tolls protests as one of the key tipping points. Civil society has turned a blind eye to a great deal of cronyism and corruption, but as our parents taught us, it is impossible to fool all of the people all of the time. – Alec Hogg
News24 Correspondent