{"id":47169,"date":"2013-10-04T14:57:09","date_gmt":"2013-10-04T12:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=47169"},"modified":"2013-10-04T14:58:14","modified_gmt":"2013-10-04T12:58:14","slug":"transport-minister-out-of-touch-with-reality-da","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/47169\/transport-minister-out-of-touch-with-reality-da\/","title":{"rendered":"Transport minister “out of touch with reality”: DA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Transport Minister Dipuo Peters is “out of touch with reality” regarding e-tolling, the DA said on Friday.<\/p>\n

“The SA National Roads Agency Ltd’s (Sanral) e-toll contract documents confirm that opposition to e-tolls grew from 39 percent to 48 percent between April 2009 and June 2009 alone,” Democratic Alliance spokesman Ian Ollis said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Despite the mounting opposition to e-tolls, Peters, President Jacob Zuma, and Sanral were forging ahead with implementation of e-tolling.<\/p>\n

“[Peters’] comments this week on the implementation of e-tolling show that she is out of touch with reality,” Ollis said.<\/p>\n

Peters reportedly said “a few number of people” had spoken out against e-tolling.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know whether we can say it is unpopular with motorists. It’s better for you to get your tag in time,” Peters said.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the SABC reported that government intended to publicise the proposed e-toll tariffs next week.<\/p>\n

This was with a view to implementing them by the end of November, the broadcaster reported.<\/p>\n

“After the tariffs are advertised, there will be a period of 30 days for public comment,” Peters said.<\/p>\n

She told the SABC she believed that after this period had ended, Sanral would be able to implement the tolls within one or two weeks.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court of Appeal reserved judgment late last month on a legal challenge by lobby group Opposition To Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa).<\/p>\n

Ollis vowed that the DA would continue to fight against open road tolling as a solution to fund road upgrades and maintenance in Gauteng.<\/p>\n

“This is not the end of the road,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We cannot and will not support e-tolling as it will be disastrous to the economy and people of Gauteng. The DA listened to the people’s opposition to e-tolls and successfully halted e-tolls in the Western Cape,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"ANC<\/a>

ANC e-tolls billboard in Johannesburg<\/p><\/div>\n

Controversial billboards<\/h3>\n

On Friday, it was reported that three massive billboards, mocking the ruling ANC and e-tolls had been anonymously erected on Johannesburg highways.<\/p>\n

Many had speculated that Outa was behind the move, however the group has issued a statement denying anything to do with the adverts.<\/p>\n

\u201cOuta does not have funds to pay for such advertising and it is not for Outa to enter into the political arena. It does however bring a thought provoking angle to a highly emotive matter of which there is no doubt that e-tolling is and will remain a political issue,” said Outa head, Wayne Duvenage.<\/p>\n

The Outa head said that e-tolling is a matter that was forced through the parliamentary process by one political party only – being the ANC – adding that every other political party had voted against the signing of the Transport and Related Matters Amendment Bill.<\/p>\n

“So I guess the billboards are relatively factual – although, personally speaking, I\u2019m not so sure the ANC are proud of what they are doing here and think a more apt line would be: e-Tolls, forcibly brought to you by the ANC,” Duvenage said.<\/p>\n

The ANC also dismissed any part or knowledge of the erected billboards.<\/p>\n

ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu told the New Age: \u201cI can tell you it is definitely not us that is behind the billboards. The ANC would have branded it with the logo and ANC colours if it was us.\u201d<\/p>\n

(With Sapa)<\/p>\n

More on e-tolls<\/h3>\n

People want e-tolls: Transport Minister<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

E-tolls or fuel levy: Sanral can\u2019t have both<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

E-tolls will force SA middle class into poverty<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

E-toll bill signing an insult: DA<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Signing e-toll bill unwise: Outa<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

E-tolling is happening in 2013: minister<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Transport Minister Dipuo Peters is “out of touch with reality” regarding e-tolling, the DA said on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":46996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2061,6646,1804,26],"class_list":["post-47169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-democratic-alliance","tag-dipuo-peters","tag-e-tolls","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47169","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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47169"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47173,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47169\/revisions\/47173"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}