Charles Molele
Gauteng premier David Makhura has announced that the province’s call to scrap e-tolls was receiving urgent attention from President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Makhura, speaking during his State of the Province Address on Monday, said urban tolling increased the cost of living and was not sustainable.
“While the user-pay principle is not in question, there is clear recognition that urban tolling increases the cost of living and is therefore unsustainable. Proceeding from this consensus, government teams are hard at work to find a solution to the e-tolls,” said Makhura.
“Our provincial government has been able to upgrade and rehabilitate the provincial road network of more than 5000 km. These are roads that have no e-tolls and they are funded through the provincial fiscus.”
ANC Gauteng provincial secretary Jacob Khawe said in a letter to Ramaphosa that e-tolls was a big factor in Gauteng’s high cost of living.
“We
categorically stated that the impact of the VAT increase and the urban tolling
system in our province has negatively affected those who travel in order to
make ends meet or to make their contribution towards the growth of our
country,” said Khawe.
“The aggregate impact of all the above is that costs are passed on to the
middle strata, the working class and the poor, thus eroding their standard of
living.”
