E-tolls not a national product: ANC
ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe says that the e-toll project is a Gauteng initiative and not a national initiative.
It follows weeks of much toing and froing between the Department of Transport and the Gauteng premier about the future of e-tolls in the province.
Transport Minister Dipuo Peters has indicated on several occasions that the national government would not change its position on the controversial e-tolling system, despite the findings of the advisory panel, set up to assess the economic, social, and environmental impacts of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP), and e-tolls.
Gauteng premier David Makhura, who set up the 15-person panel, has insisted that he will act on its findings, while the ANC in Gauteng has also spoken out against the system.
The outcomes of the panel’s hearings, currently ongoing, will be presented in a report to the Gauteng Provincial Legislature in November.
In an interview with the Star newspaper, Mantashe said: “I can’t speak for the national government. To me, I know it as the Gauteng infrastructure upgrade project. The fact that it is called Gauteng and not called national means it is a provincial product. The fact that it is connected to a national agency called Sanral (SA National Roads Agency Limited) doesn’t make it a national product.”
“This is a Gauteng-specific problem and my starting point is that leadership in Gauteng must own up. Then if they think that this thing backfired, then they must come back and say this thing is backfiring and we will continue to engage them.”
When questioned whether the subject of e-tolls had created divisions within the ruling party, Mantashe said: “There are no divisions in the ANC. Actually, I can’t speak for government. I speak for the ANC.”
The ANC member called on people to pay “when they are in a world-class infrastructure… All I am saying is that people pay one way or the other”.
More on e-tolls
E-tolls not a decision for transport minister: Outa
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