Industry continues to oppose tolls

As this issue went to press on Monday morning (February 27), it was looking fairly certain that the Road Freight Association would take legal action against the new tariffs for the tolls on the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Programme (GFIP). When we spoke to the association’s technical and operations manager Gavin Kelly last Friday, he told FTW that, based on input from members, “roughly 90% are saying that we should take legal action”. This followed finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, confirming in his budget speech last Wednesday that the GFIP would be a ‘user pays’ project. The RFA reaction also followed the cabinet providing further details on Thursday last week of the new toll fees related to the GFIP (See box piece). The cabinet also confirmed the user pays principle in a statement that was rather take it or leave it. This user pays, according to government spokesman, Jimmy Manyi, “will be the name of the game”, and, as the norm in future, South Africans “must get used to it”. But the RFA doesn’t want to accept this ultimatum, according to Kelly, and would rather see an increase in the fuel levy paying for the project. This was originally devised in 1935 with the very purpose of building and maintaining the national road system. And, although it has since been absorbed into the government’s general treasury, Kelly sees no reason why it shouldn’t be again ringfenced, purely for the funding of the road network. And, used for its original purpose, the fuel levy could certainly fund most of the needs of SA roads, he added. At its current level, the levy raises about R35 billion a year. Kelly also feels that the extra amount the cost of the GFIP project would add to the fuel levy wouldn’t be a big knock. “We have calculated that the GFIP would need an additional 11 cents a litre,” he said. “And, considering that the budget has just slapped on an extra 28 c/l to the fuel levy, that 11c doesn’t assume massive proportions.” And the legal argument that the RFA intends to present to the court? That will only be finalised when the association consults with its legal advisers, according to Kelly. “But the main element,” he added, “is likely to be constitutional.” He said that other transport representative bodies were also considering some type of legal action. This was confirmed, for example, by Wayne Duvenage, the vicepresident of the SA Vehicle Renting and Leasing Association (Savrala), who said that the association would consider taking legal action against the tolls – and added that Savrala would consult with other industry players like the RFA, the Automobile Association, the National Automobile Dealers’ Association, the Retail Motor Industry Organisation and even Cosatu to see what legal avenues they could follow. He was also quoted by the The Star newspaper as saying that tolling was ill-conceived and “thrust upon the Gauteng road user with minimal consultation or consideration to its impact. To now burden this economic hub with a cumbersome, expensive and inefficient urban toll system is immoral and blatantly wrong.”