E-toll ghosts still haunting South Africa
Gauteng Finance and Economic Development MEC Lebogang Maile says that the province should hopefully have an answer to the many questions still hanging over the shut-down e-toll system—specifically, how the province will pay for the debt it has been saddled with.
The failed e-tolling system was officially shut down in April 2024 in a big ceremony ahead of the 2024 national elections.
While the government made a big spectacle of ending the much-derided system—that it forced on the population of Gauteng in the first place—questions remained about the what would happen the debt.
In terms of the agreement with the National Treasury, Gauteng is on the hook for 30% of the debt owed on the e-toll project, amounting to almost R13 billion. The balance of 70% will be paid by the National Treasury.
It has been a long-standing question where the Gauteng portion would come from.
During the Gauteng budget in March 2024, former MEC for finance Jacob Mamabolo said that the province approached financial institutions to borrow the necessary money to pay off the e-toll debt – while also taking on over R4 billion worth of maintenance backlogs.
Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi, meanwhile, said that the roads will remain national roads, but as part of its agreements and negotiations with National Treasury, the province agreed to handle the maintenance of the roads in preparation for further phases of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project.
He added that while the e-tolling will be scrapped, the e-tags and e-toll gantries will continue to be used and repurposed.
E-toll ghosts still linger
Following his budget speech this past week, Maile has confirmed that at least some of these answers will be coming soon.
The MEC said that Gauteng is facing a higher budget after National Treasury cut budgets across all provinces..
“As a result, we will be losing about R15 billion,” he said.
Maile said the rejection of e-tolls—which the province has to pay for—has added an additional R20 billion to the deficit, so the province is now sitting with about R35 billion on the ‘minus’ column of its books for this term of office.
“We are putting measures in place to ensure that we recover from that. In the last term we were able to raise R36 billion, so we have capacity to recover, we just need to put systems in place.”
Maile said that there are two key issues that need to be dealt with following the shutdown of e-tolls.
The first is the maintenance of the province’s roads, which will require about R4.1 billion, and the second is the actual loan to cover the e-toll debt, which is another R12 billion.
The MEC said that the province is still in talks with a financial institution for a loan to cover these costs, pointing to September as the window for this to be completed.
“We are in the process and are at an advanced state of getting money from a financial institution (for this). I hope that it will be finalised by September. (The province) is busy with the application.”
The MEC would not reveal which financial institution would be supplying the loan but said it was a reputable group and that an announcement would be made once things have been finalised.
He confirmed that it is a local provider and that the loan is rand-denominated.
Maile said that the province would make its first payment of R3 billion towards the e-toll debt in September. By this time, the loan should be finalised, he said.
“We hope that by this time we will be able to make everything public and explain all the terms and conditions and arrangements with SANRAL and the Department of Transport and National Treasury,” he said.
Outside of the actual loan to pay off the e-toll debt, other issues still remain, including how the province intends to find the money to pay off these loans, as well as what happens to the other e-toll debt accrued by road users who refused to pay.
The transport department previously indicated that motorists should still pay these outstanding bills—but e-toll opponents Outa nixed this, questioning why e-toll users would suddenly pay for something they spent an entire decade rejecting.
There is also a case to be made that most of this debt as prescribed, it said, and a standing promise to challenge any attempts to force motorists to pay in court.
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