E-toll contradictions leave truckers guessing

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s  recent decision to bring Gauteng’s controversial e-toll system before parliament was lauded as a giant leap towards creating certainty on this critical issue. Ramaphosa intervened after a recent social media spat between Finance Minister Tito Mboweni and Gauteng Premier David Makhura on whether the system would be scrapped or not. Howard Dembovsky, chairman of the Justice Project South Africa, said while speculating ahead of the parliamentary process and decision was irresponsible, he welcomed the move by Ramaphosa. “It is very good that it has gone to parliament,” he said. “E-tolling is a national government competency and not provincial. I believe this is a giant leap in the direction of creating certainty.” According to a presidential spokesman, Mboweni and Makhura have been instructed to work with transport minister Fikile Mbalula to find a solution. “The president has called on the ministers and premier to table proposals to cabinet by no later than the end of August,” said the spokesman.  According to Dembovsky this was a far more viable approach than had been taken to date. With only an estimated 20% of users paying for the electronic tolling which is part of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Plan (GFIP), it has created huge uncertainty in the transport sector. Gavin Kelly, acting chairman of the Road Freight
Association, said by law transporters were obligated to pay the tolls. “There are companies paying the toll, but there are also those that are not. The reality is that if you are paying you are uncompetitive compared to those that are not.” He said there was also uncertainty over whether companies that had been paying would be re-imbursed should the system be scrapped in the future resulting in financial loss when compared to the companies that did not pay. “Then again, what happens if it is not scrapped? Will those companies that have not paid then be held liable or be prosecuted for not paying tolls? What will the financial impact of that be on these transporters?” Kelly said either way finding a solution to the uncertainty was imperative to put transport businesses on a level playing field because at present that was not the case. “At the moment it is uncertain how it will financially impact on a business whether you are paying or not. They have created a system between law abiding citizens and nonlaw abiding citizens with serious financial consequences that could potentially ruin a business.” He said Ramaphosa’s decision was undoubtedly the right approach and a definite way of moving forward. “There is a debt that has to be paid. That is the reality. The citizens of Gauteng, however, don’t want it,” said Kelly. Marrying these two realities would not be easy, but a parliamentary approach was by far the best option of trying to come up with some sort of viable solution, he said.