Minister’s comments confirms her one-dimensional thinking

Recent comments made in the media by Transport Minister Dipuo Peters illustrates the Minister’s one-dimensional thinking when it comes to transport. Obviously we all agree that transport go hand-in-hand and is a catalyst for economic growth. The fact that at present this isn’t happening under her watch seems to escape the Honourable Minister. Her comments confirms my statements I made in the Transport budget debate this year; that her department continues to place emphasis on roads, because roads are used more and more due to lack of a workable alternative. Continuous maintenance is required as a result of excessive road usage and so the vicious on-going cycle continues. Minister Peters only mentions rail as an afterthought despite her existing departmental policy and that of the National Development Plan, being that rail should be the backbone of the public transport system. In reality this is merely a policy on paper. Little is said and less done about combating the inefficiencies of the current rail system so that as much traffic (goods and people) as possible is moved from road to rail. The fact that rail is the most economically efficient and effective transport mode available is undisputed. It takes one litre of diesel to transport one tonne of goods over 100 meters via road compared to the same litre transporting one tonne on rail transport for 4 kilometres. If the majority of traffic were moved efficiently and securely on rail we would find there to be less traffic on roads, which in turn would require less of the national transport budget freeing up funds for transport infrastructure projects and extending the life-span of our roads. Rail would be an excellent counterweight to the limited and expensive apartheid transport planning practices, where despite people living geographically far from their workplaces they would be able to use rail to commute to and from work safely without much effort emotionally, physically and financially. An emphasis on rail would mean economic growth and the creation of jobs which we so badly need in South Africa. Reduced traffic on roads would mean less road accident fatalities on our highways of death. This in itself would contribute to our economy as these fatalities result in a huge socio-economic cost, estimated at R306 billion per annum. Foremost in the mind of people in Gauteng and soon in the Western Cape, is the fact that there would be no e-tolls required to fund these budget draining roads in the first place. Despite all the benefits of rail, which ironically the Minister has on various occasions endorsed, she continues to be led by the people of Sanral whose passion is to build roads. Until there is a political will to emphasis rail and not roads we will continue to stagnate on transport and to pave our roads in blood.

The new eToll dispensation – there is an alternative yet the ANC refuse it!

The recent announcement on the dispensation for the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP), commonly known as the e-Tolls, by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa was received with much anticipation. Most of the residents in Gauteng were expecting for this unjust system to simply be scrapped. Instead, the Deputy President announced nothing more than “smoke and mirrors” – as if motorists wouldn’t be able to see through this. These tricks were essential for the ANC as they dramatically lost a record 11% support in Gauteng during last year’s General Election. This was staggering reduction in the ANC’s support from 64,4% in the 2009 Election to 53,59% in last year’s General Election. The voters of Gauteng have made their feelings known with their peaceful resistance campaign of not paying for the e-tolls system. The message from Gautengers is simple; we saw the gantries being built on our existing freeways. We weren’t consulted. We didn’t ask for them. Now were are expected to pay. We will not. After all, we are simply following the attitude of our President: he saw the construction being built at his Nkandla homestead. He wasn’t consulted. He didn’t ask for them. Now he is expected to pay. He says he won’t. Why should Gautengers have a different attitude? Ramaphosa and the rest of the government genuinely believed that they had come up with the perfect e-toll “deal”. They just don’t get it! It’s no longer about the best “deal”. It’s about the ANC government, its abuse of power and continued upward trend at corruption and raping of resources at every sphere of government. The citizens are quite simply gatvol! Their attitude is simple: government expects us to pay for e-tolls which money will benefit a European state. Yet Zuma and his cronies continue to ride the crest of the corruption wave benefiting from South Africans hard earned earnings yet treating the population like simpletons even to an extent that the President last week joked and laughed in Parliament about the public’s response to Nkandla! The sad part of this is that there are cheaper, more efficient and more effective alternatives to funding the e-tolls. The latest announcement by Ramaphosa clearly illustrates that government has had the capacity to subsidise the e-tolls from their inception but has tried to squeeze every cent out of its citizens instead. Ramaphosa was clearly uninformed when he made his assurances that there was wide consultation before his announcement on e-tolls, since Cosatu has come out against these new measures and organisations such as OUTA were not even approached for comment. Clearly the wrong people if any have been consulted. An Ipsos study conducted in April showed that an overwhelming 74% of Gauteng motorists believed the government should find an alternative to the e-toll system. Speaking to officials in the Department of Transport, I got the impression that the department thought that they will now blackmail motorists into paying for this unjust system by linking it to the payment of motor vehicle license discs. Apart from the fact that at present this would be an illegal practice, legislative amendments would be required to affect this change. It will take time for these changes to become a reality – probably around 18 months! This fact in itself leads me to believe that the e-toll announcement was premature. The consequence is simple: motorists will simply rather pay a R250 fine for driving with an outdated license disc. This is much cheaper than paying for e-tolls! Those that can afford to pay their e-toll bills will not pay in protest. Another question of concern is if withholding the issue of licence discs would pass constitutional muster as it would be tantamount to forcing a person who has in fact paid licence fees to renew their licence, but to whom a licence disc has been refused, to contravene the National Road Traffic Regulations by not displaying a current licence as required. Not displaying an up-to-date licence disc is, under the AARTO Act, a minor infringement which results in a R250 fine, discounted by 50% if paid within 32 days. The consequence of not paying such a fine could, after the prescribed period and processes have ensued, lead to an enforcement order being issued, thereby blocking licensing transactions on the eNaTIS system against the person. In other words, the motorist would not only have unpaid e-tolls and no current licence disc, but would also have one or more unpaid traffic fines which can currently proceed no further than an enforcement order and would therefore constitute no real inconvenience to the person. So if this new provision is passed and people continue their resistance campaign, it may be found that the Gauteng Provincial Government and all licensing authorities in Gauteng will suffer negatively as their licensing income revenues drop dramatically. Considering that Gauteng has the largest vehicle population in the country currently at 38.87% which equates to 11,493,608 vehicles as at 31 March 2015, this is not small change for the Gauteng government. This intended “blackmail” by government will have unintended consequences including an opportunity for the development of a new underground illegal license disc and number plate industry in South Africa. All this can be avoided but this won’t be apparent to the many politically connected people have too much riding on this financially. The financial alternatives are as clear as day and funding the GFIP through the fuel levy is the most obvious solution. Government would enjoy 100% compliance from motorists and administrative costs are minimal. This year the fuel levy generated R55 billion, up from R24,8 billion in 2008 when this projected was initiated. Ironically, the Apartheid government created the fuel levy in the 1970’s to fund road-construction. Today this fund goes into the various departmental coffers never to be used for their intended purpose. The GFIP bonds require approximately R1,9 billion annually to finance over their required 24 year lifespan. This only equates to about a 10c per litre rise in the fuel price! Sadly the fuel price has risen by R1,22 per litre since the advent of the GFIP in 2008. This is equivalent to more than 12 times of what is required to fund the GFIP bonds over their lifetime. Simple economics would suggest a 10c increase in the fuel levy would be the optimal solution. It’s a no brainer!! Yet our cloak and dagger government will ignore the fuel levy route instead insisting on e-tolls to hide their inefficiencies and corruption and expecting Gautengers to cough up more of their lifeblood. I will be tabling a private members bill against urban tolling. The DA will not give in to an inept system. The final fight must now take place at the polls in 2016 when voters have the opportunity to demonstrate that if the ANC wishes to ignore public sentiment through its e-toll announcement then it must deal with the consequences of its actions.