{"id":11049,"date":"2012-04-27T01:18:32","date_gmt":"2012-04-26T23:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=11049"},"modified":"2012-04-29T22:32:08","modified_gmt":"2012-04-29T20:32:08","slug":"e-tolling-postponed-to-30-may","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/11049\/e-tolling-postponed-to-30-may\/","title":{"rendered":"E-tolling postponed to 30 May"},"content":{"rendered":"

The implementation of the e-tolling system on Gauteng’s highways was postponed for a month by the transport department and SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral)<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The announcement was made by transport director general George Mahlalela, just hours after the African National Congress and the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu)<\/a> said they would ask the government for a month-long delay.<\/p>\n

E-tolling was to have been implemented on 185 kilometres of highway in Gauteng on Monday.<\/p>\n

In a statement on Thursday night, the department said its implementation was being postponed until May 30.<\/p>\n

This was to “finalise regulations following input on regulatory and administrative issues from the public and interested stakeholders.<\/p>\n

Welcoming the decision, the ANC said it showed leadership and responsiveness by the government.<\/p>\n

“It is encouraging to us that we live in a democracy where these issues can be thoroughly debated and discussed,” added Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The High Court in Pretoria is to rule at 11am on Saturday on an urgent interdict to stop the implementation of the e-tolling system.<\/p>\n

The application was brought by the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance<\/a>. There are seven respondents, including the transport department, Sanral and the National Treasury. the Congress of SA Trade Unions has an observer present.<\/p>\n

Earlier, Cosatu and the ANC said they had agreed to the delay in talks on Thursday.<\/p>\n

“The leadership has collectively agreed to postpone the implementation of the e-toll collection system by a month,” they said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“This will give the task team more time to explore alternative funding mechanisms.” Cosatu general-secretary Zwelinzima Vavi told reporters on Thursday that the entire central executive committee of Cosatu was united against e-tolling. “There is not a single dissenting voice,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said e-tolls would represent a huge additional burden on all motorists, particularly workers who had no choice but to use cars to get to and from work because of a lack of reliable and safe public transport.<\/p>\n

Cosatu has postponed a general strike against e-tolling planned for Monday.<\/p>\n

The delay would give it time to assess the success of resistance to e-tolling, and any future legal action.<\/p>\n

Other mass action planned for Monday, including a highway blockade in Johannesburg, would go ahead, Vavi said, Speaking after a special meeting of Cosatu’s executive, Vavi said the blockade of four tollgates at Middelburg and Nkomazi, in Mpumulanga, would form part of the mass action on Monday.<\/p>\n

In North West, a demonstration was being planned at Swartruggens plaza.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, a march would take place from the May Day rally at Good Hope Centre to the Cape Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n

Vavi said Cosatu’s executive was opposed to what he described as the “commodification” of South Africa’s public road network.<\/p>\n

Related Articles<\/h3>\n

E-toll postponement discussed ahead of ruling<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

E-tolling is completely rational says Sanral<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

E-toll delay risks SANRAL default<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

E-tolls could do irreparable harm to SA, hears court<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The implementation of the e-tolling system on Gauteng’s highways was postponed for a month by the transport department and SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[1875,1470,2552,427,26,429],"class_list":["post-11049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-anc","tag-cosatu","tag-department-of-transport","tag-e-toll","tag-headline","tag-sanral"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11049"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11051,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11049\/revisions\/11051"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}