E-toll headache will not go away: Outa
The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) has urged the ruling party, the ANC, to engage with stakeholders on e-tolls, adding that it should consider calling a referendum,”before it gets any messier”.
It follows reported dismissive comments made by the ANC’s general secretary Gwede Mantashe about the impact of e-tolls on the elections, wherein he said the people of Gauteng “must stop whinging and pay up”.
On Monday the Star reported that Mantashe rubbished claims that the ANC in Gauteng had blamed e-tolls, corruption and Nkandla, for the loss of votes in the province.
Mantashe said that the debate about whether motorists should pay for e-tolls was “misplaced and emotional”.
The ANC obtained a 53.59% of the vote in Gauteng in the elections held last week, down from 64.4% in 2009.
Outa Spokesperson John Clarke said that the 11% decline in overall electoral support for the ANC in Gauteng translates into a substantive decline in the traditional support base of the ANC since the 2009 elections.
“As much as the ANC Executive try to downplay the decline, it is massive and is largely attributed to the decision to force e-tolls on an unwilling and angry public who wont pay for something they were not adequately consulted on or that they didn’t ask for,” Clarke said.
“While the Nkandla issue has been a national one, e-tolls has been concentrated to the province of Gauteng, which is where the biggest haemorrhage of ANC support took place,” Clarke added.
Outa noted that ANC provincial chair Paul Mashatile recently said that some ‘honest introspection’ was needed to identify why the Gauteng ANC has lost votes.
“When the new Gauteng Provincial legislature convenes the ANC will have seven less members than before, with their 40 MPL’s facing a combined total of 33 opposition members from both the left and the right, all of whom being opposed to e-tolls.”
“Mr Mantashe is not serving the interests of the ANC by playing along with Sanral’s ambitions on e-tolls,” Clarke said.
Wayne Duvenage, the Chairperson of Outa, said that the Gauteng based ANC leadership would be wise to embarking on a path of meaningful engagement with stakeholders on the e-toll issue as soon as possible.
“If they want the truth on how the Gauteng public feel about e-tolls, they should consider calling a referendum, or take a serious look at the myriad of polls and discussions on the matter.”
“With well over a million freeway users in Gauteng defying the system, combined with the serious administrative problems, extremely high costs and gross inefficiencies, the e-toll decision was always flawed as a result of poor research, weak data and an arrogant attitude employed by Sanral to convince the authorities to proceed. It’s certainly not going to get better,” Duvenage said.
More on Sanral and E-tolls
People must appreciate e-tolls: ANC’s Mantashe
Sanral’s lies and unlawful intimidation: JPSA
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