Gauteng premier David Makhura has announced that President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to make an imminent announcement about the future of e-tolls in the province.
Makhura, delivering his state of the province address at the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University in Ga-Rankuwa, just outside Pretoria on Tuesday, said as the Executive Council, they have made a strong and persuasive case to Ramaphosa and national government on the issue of e-tolls.
“I have been assured by President Cyril Ramaphosa that a lasting solution has been found and an announcement by the President is imminent,” said Ramaphosa.
However, DA’s Caucus leader, Solly Msimanga, poured cold water on Makhura’s announcement, saying he has been repeating the same mntra about the future e-tolls for many years without any action.
“Same old, same old. Same old places, same old words. Same old situations we’ve all heard,” said Msimanga, reacting to Makhura’s announcement about e-tolls.
“Year in, year out, he says the same thing. That an announcement is imminent but we’ve heard this before. Today, Makhura is saying this about e-tolls. The President will say something completely different while Finance Minister Tito Mboweni will say something else during his Budget Speech on Wednesday. Why does it take so long to make a decision on the e-tolls,” asked Msimanga.
“The people of Gauteng have been taken for a ride for far too long.”
Last year, Makhura said the Gauteng government was willing to help settle billions of rands of e-toll debt.
The debt was one of the key reasons why Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has opposed the scrapping of the system, saying it would cause further stress on the South African National Roads Agency.
In 2018, Sanral collected R5.6-billion less than budgeted, partly due to the government’s lack of clarity on e-tolls, Fin24 reported.
Mboweni announced last year that the e-tolls system would remain in their current form.
When delivering his Medium Term Budget Policy Statement in Parliament in October, Mboweni said the decision was taken after consultation with key players in the transport sector.
Mboweni tables his much-anticipated Budget Speech on Wednesday afternoon in Cape Town.
(Compiled by Charles Molele)
