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”.<\/p>\n
It follows reported dismissive comments made by the\u00a0ANC’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”.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mantashe said that the debate about whether motorists should pay for e-tolls was “misplaced and emotional”.<\/p>\n
The ANC obtained a 53.59% of the vote in Gauteng in the elections held last week, down from 64.4% in 2009.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“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\u2019t ask for,\u201d Clarke said.<\/p>\n
“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,\u201d Clarke added.<\/p>\n
Outa noted that ANC provincial chair Paul Mashatile recently said that some \u2018honest introspection\u2019 was needed to identify why the Gauteng ANC has lost votes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the new Gauteng Provincial legislature convenes the ANC will have seven less members than before, with their 40 MPL\u2019s facing a combined total of 33 opposition members from both the left and the right, all of whom being opposed to e-tolls.”<\/p>\n
“Mr Mantashe is not serving the interests of the ANC by playing along with Sanral\u2019s ambitions on e-tolls,\u201d Clarke said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
“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\u2019s certainly not going to get better,\u201d Duvenage said.<\/p>\n
People must appreciate e-tolls: ANC\u2019s Mantashe<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Sanral\u2019s lies and unlawful intimidation: JPSA<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n