We have a plan to oppose the e-Tolls

By far the biggest transport issue presently on the lips of South Africans is e-Tolls which the public almost unanimously rejects. This issue has been handled poorly from the very beginning. The voters of Gauteng have been making their feelings felt with their peaceful resistance campaign by not signing onto the e-Tag system. Their feelings were clearly further demonstrated when they reduced the ANC’s support from 64,4% in the 2009 Election to 53,59% in this year’s Election. The ANC is Gauteng is now desperate to show its voters that it is on their side on this issue and is now trying to fool them into thinking that they are doing something positive for them there. The partly failed SANRAL bond auction on 2nd July which only raised R275 million out of the total bids of R465 million shows that investors are nervous. Gauteng Premier David Makhura’s announcement of the Gauteng Provincial Government review of the E-tolls system is nothing more than a public relations stunt. The E-tolls system is governed by national legislation, therefore the only body that is empowered to legitimately review the system and make pronouncements on its future is Parliament, through the Portfolio Committee of Transport. The review panel must therefore be a Parliamentary Committee. Why is Minister Peters remaining silent on this while Premier Makhura continues with this charade? The DA is calling on the Minister to show leadership, and support the need for the review of E-tolls to take place in Parliament. The terms of reference for the Gauteng E-tolls Review Panel announced by the Premier clearly indicates that the panel is not empowered to take any action against E-tolls. The people of South Africa need to see action on this issue, and not just a “talk-shop” in Gauteng that has no legal powers. The cost of this Review Panel will take public funds away from other critical needs, yet it can make no meaningful changes to the E-tolls scheme. The DA will continue this fight against E-tolls, which are an economic burden and were imposed upon South Africans without any meaningful consultation. I am currently preparing a Private Members Bill to Parliament that will make the process of imposing any E-tolls in future both consultative and democratic. My Private Members Bill will amend the Transport and Related Matters Amendment Act, which allows E-tolls, in the following ways: 1. It will limit the Minister’s and SANRAL’s power to declare a National toll-road, by making the decision subject to the outcome of extensive public consultation, including television and radio advertisements on all major channels and stations at prime-time; simple objection documents and forms easily accessible to the public; newspaper advertisements and signage on the actual road which advertises the proposed tolling; 2. It will impose reasonable thresholds of objections received at which the Minister must request the President to declare a referendum wherein the people of South Africa will have the vote on declaration of the toll-road; 3. It will impose upon the Minister and SANRAL the obligation to take into account the comments of the Premier of the Province in which the road is located, as well as the affected mayor and to make the decision to declare a toll-road only in consultation with the Premier and after consultation with the relevant Mayors through whose municipal boundaries the road may pass; 4. It will impose upon the Minister and SANRAL the obligation to identify and designate an alternative non-tolled route to every road sought to be declared a toll-road, of reasonably comparable distance. Further, given that the fuel levy scheme is directly related to the implementation of E-tolls, included in my Private Members Bill, I will move for: 5. An amendment to the National Roads Act of 1971, to include the provision that all monies raised from the fuel levy must be ring-fenced for the purpose of road construction and maintenance only. Currently the National Roads Act, allows the government to collect a fuel levy from every litre of fuel sold, and to add that to the national fiscus and spend it on any budget item. Over R340-billion has been collected through this levy since 1998. Our position is that the fuel levy ought to be directed solely to road construction and maintenance, which will further negate the need for E-tolls. As I stated, the public’s peaceful resistance campaign is working. SANRAL is now more nervous than ever. This is evident from the numerous SANRAL branding and vehicles utilised at roadblocks in Gauteng conducted by other traffic enforcement agencies. Motorists are being intimidated to buy e-tags. This is being done without any legal basis to do so. I have already written to the Head of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID), Robert McBride, to request an urgent investigation into the utilisation of the traffic enforcement agencies by SANRAL for the purpose of coercing motorists to purchase e-tags. The DA opposes the abuse of policing services - which should be spending their time upholding the law and keeping South Africans safe. It appears that SANRAL’s abuse isn’t stopping here. The Minister needs to tell Parliament and indeed the citizens of South Africa if SANRAL still intends to pursue the prosecution and criminalization of people who have not paid their e-toll bills. To do this will only serve to aggravate the implicit conflict between Government and the public.