Following years of delays, the government is finally expected to make an announcement on the way forward for e-tolls in Gauteng when finance minister Enoch Godongwana\u2019 presents his Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) in late October.<\/p>\n
The Automobile Association (AA) however, said that unless government terminates e-tolls, the system will continue to fail. The association said that the government must also reimburse those who have been paying all these years and cancel the outstanding debt.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr Godongwana is now best placed to deal decisively with e-tolls and scrap the system once and for all. Continuing with e-tolls, in whatever form, will yield the same poor results and will further harden people\u2019s views on a failing system,\u201d said the AA.<\/p>\n
Since its introduction in December 2013, the payment of e-tolls for the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) has been a contentious issue with many motorists in the province refusing to pay. Their assertion then, as it is now, is that government must fund the GFIP through other means, possibly a ring-fencing of some of the revenue collected through the General Fuel Levy (GFL).<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our meeting with the minister of transport Fikile Mbalula in August 2019, we communicated our findings that payment compliance is low, and that motorists in the province have taken a principled stance not to pay e-tolls. Mr Mbalula indicated at that meeting that a decision on the future of e-tolls would be forthcoming the following March.<\/p>\n
“This never materialised and several dates put forward by him to clarify the future of e-tolls have since come and gone. In June this year, Mr Mbalula indicated that Mr Godongwana would clarify the future e-tolls in his MTBPS, a date we trust will be kept,\u201d said the AA.<\/p>\n
The association said the delays in making an announcement on e-tolls cause confusion and contribute to more people refusing to pay. It said that it believes that people who continued to pay e-tolls have since stopped and reports now suggest payment compliance levels to be below 18%, less than half of the reported high compliance rate of 40% in 2014.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf government keeps the current system in place it is doomed to fail. Our position is clear: government must allocate funds from existing revenue channels to the GFIP rather than continue to turn to already embattled motorists to finance the system.<\/p>\n
“Motorists correctly question government spending in many areas including, for instance, huge salaries and bonuses to executives at poorly run State-Owned Enterprises, while they are being asked time and again to make contributions on top of the taxes they\u2019re already paying,\u201d said the AA.<\/p>\n