Supermarket giant counts the costs of e-tolling

Supermarket giant Shoprite Checkers has hinted at the possibility of applying for e-toll exemption to put the brakes on food inflation. Announcing the company’s interim results for the six months ending in December last year, CEO Whitey Basson said that e-tolling had cost its fleet of vehicles R4 million to date. This, he said, was leading to higher food prices for Gauteng customers. The Democratic Alliance, which has championed the anti-e-toll cause from the start, says that this information reveals the true cost of e-tolling – the fact that the system impacts everybody, whether they are road users or not. “If this is the impact of tolling on one of the biggest produce suppliers in the country, it is likely that many others, both big and small, will also be forced to increase expenses across the board,” according to a statement from the party. Quoted in Independent Online, Shoprite Checkers’ group spokeswoman Sarita van Wyk said that the company would try to absorb the additional expense for as long as possible but it would not be feasible to absorb the impact on retail prices in the long run. For this reason she said they were considering applying to SA National Roads Agency Limited for exemption. Ardent anti-e-toll campaigner, Howard Dembowsky of the Justice Project, expressed his doubts to IOL of the success of the appeal. Currently, police and defence force vehicles, metro police vehicles, emergency vehicles and qualifying public transport vehicles are exempt.