GAUTENG STILL PAYS FOR E-TOLLS

Wed 02 October 2024:

Motorists and residents of Gauteng should not have to foot the bill for upgrades to a national route. This was the argument from critics as the provincial government today paid nearly R4 billion in the first of five instalments towards the e-toll debt.

Speaking in an interview with SABC News, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse’s (OUTA) executive director, Adv Stefanie Fick, said it made no sense for Gauteng to be paying for national roads.

“These are national roads. These are roads that should be maintained by SANRAL. Why Gauteng agreed to paying a portion … we can’t explain it. Everybody’s paying for everybody’s roads,” she said.

On Monday, Gauteng Finance and Economic Development MEC Lebogang Maile announced the transaction of R3.8 billion for infrastructure and maintenance backlogs. This was part of a deal with the National Treasury.

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“The first instalment that we are paying today amounts to R3.8 billion, consisting of R3.2 billion (historical debt) and the maintenance portion of R546 million. The implications of the e-toll debt require the provincial government to manage finances in a prudent manner whilst carefully balancing the service delivery needs of the citizens,” Maile said.

Referring to the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP), Fick said residents had already paid more than their fair share.

“That GFIP upgrade, right from the start, was marred with corruption. We paid nearly double the amount we should have paid for just the construction of the road. The administrative costs went sky-high; it was different to the amount that was initially in the bids, the tenders,” she said.

E-tolls were finally scrapped earlier this year after years of outrage and boycotts. Following an impasse, the Gauteng provincial government agreed to contribute 30% of Sanral’s debt while the national government agreed to cover 70%.