GAUTENG E-TOLL SAGA CONTINUES

Following a loud outcry from media, the South African public learnt of how exactly the new flowing freeways around Gauteng were to be funded; through hard-earned motorists’ and taxi passengers’ money. E-Tolling was thrust upon us like an abandoned baby, with no return address in sight. Soon thereafter government representatives, including GP Premier Nomvula Mokonyane and Transport Minister S’bu Ndebele, met to thrash out a new way forward.

Now some of these ways have been thrashed but the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project Steering Committee is still working hard to compile a tariff and stakeholder engagement draft report for Ndebele. What this means is that the system is now under review. What’s not clear is, will the consumer continue to pay, albeit a smaller price, after the whole commission, or will government find another way to repay the R20 billion loan used to rebuild these highways?

The entire process will take some weeks to finalise, conveniently after the local government elections…