The e-Tolls are indeed unpatriotic!

I recently drove past one of our now-famous billboards which most people love, “E-Tolls. Proudly bought to you by the ANC.” I couldn’t help but feel the rage that Gauteng motorists experience when reading the billboard. It also reminded me of the reaction from the Transport Minister herself, Dipuo Peters who described the billboards as “unpatriotic.” I want to thank the Minister for being honest; at last a government member that is honest about the E-toll project! Indeed eTolls are is very unpatriotic. Particularly as most of the money made from this project will be flying out to Austria whilst the South African taxpayer gets fleeced daily. Yet, the Minister is supporting and defending this unpatriotic project! To make matters worse, the Government Gazette on e-toll tariffs indicates 82.7% of road users (Class A2) will pay a maximum of R100 per month if they are registered as e-tag users. But if you use SANRAL’s own schematic on the toll gantries and then connecting this to the gazetted tariffs to be paid by registered e-tag users during peak periods the DA has estimated costs on several routes around Gauteng and established that the costs will in fact be much higher. How then can SANRAL say that more than 80% of users carrying an e-tag will pay a maximum of R100 maximum per month? SANRAL has resorted to deceiving South Africans about the system itself as well as what it will cost the public irrespective whether one is a registered user or not. The Transport Minister needs to decide if she will continue supporting this system which few support or whether she still thinks eTolls are unpatriotic in which case she needs to halt it now! Now if only we could get the President to realise how unpatriotic and embarrassing his “road in Malawi” comments were, when addressing this issue, not only to South Africans but to Malawians and indeed the whole of Africa!