The acrimonious Twitter spat between Gauteng Premier David Makhura and Finance Minister Tito Mboweni over the e-toll saga has drawn a swift response from President Cyril Ramaphosa.
He has mandated Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula, working with Mboweni and Makhura, to submit solutions to the impasse around electronic tolling on Gauteng’s freeways to Cabinet by the end of next month.
The user-pay principle remains a policy of government.”
The president pointed out that “while the user-pay principle remains a policy of government, the electronic tolling system as part of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Plan (GFIP) presents challenges in its current form.”
Yesterday, Mboweni and Makhura exchanged brusque tweets on the e-toll issue, with many netizens blasting Mboweni for his “arrogance” and lauding Makhura for “standing his ground.”
Ramaphosa said its “extremely unfortunate and deeply regrettable (the) recent public exchanges between Mboweni and the Gauteng Provincial Government on this matter.”
The President added that “such exchanges on social media are unbecoming of their high offices and fail to provide the leadership required in this instance.”
Ramaphosa added that: “The public interest is best served through collaboration, not conflict, and the appropriate platform for leaders to express and reconcile differing views is Cabinet and other coordination forums.”
