Gauteng ANC rejects current e-tolls paying system:Tuesday 14 October 2014. Gauteng ANC chairperson Paul Mashatile(SABC)
E-tolls protesters set bills alight at Sanral offices:Saturday 18 October 2014. Protestors brought traffic to a halt on the M1 from Johannesburg to Pretoria during their drive slow campaign against E-tolls.
(Horisani Sithole) E-tolls protesters have set their bills alight in front of the offices of roads agency Sanral in Pretoria. They earlier brought traffic to a halt on the M1 from Johannesburg to Pretoria during their drive slow campaign against e-tolls. Cosatu disappointed by e-toll panel review outcome :Thursday 15 January 2015. Cosatu says it was disappointed that the Gauteng e-toll review panel did not admit that the whole system is unaffordable, inequitable, unfair and unsustainable.
(SABC) The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) says it is disappointed that the Gauteng e-toll review panel has not recommended the complete scrapping of e-tolls. "Despite conceding that 'the e-toll system in its current form is unaffordable and inequitable and places a disproportionate burden on low and middle income households’, the panel shies away from the obvious conclusion from this, that the system, which has been overwhelmingly rejected by the people of Gauteng, should be abandoned," says Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven in a statement. Outa disappointed at e-toll consultative meeting:Friday 6 February 2015.
Outa says the panel which was appointed to look into e-tolls doesn't have the necessary scope to take it to a national level.
JSPA adds voice against e-toll review report:Friday 16 January 2015. Howard Dembovsky says e-toll is expensive.
(SABC) Justice Project South Africa (JPSA) says the Gauteng e-toll review panel's report failed to include some of the alternative recommendations they raised. The report found that even though e-tolls had economically benefited the people in Gauteng, in its current form, the "system is unaffordable and inequitable and places disproportionate burden on low and middle income households". It recommended that elements of the current e-toll system must be reviewed to address the questions of affordability, equity, fairness, administrative simplicity and sustainability. The panel which was appointed by Gauteng Premier David Makhura on July 17, 2014 had to examine the economic and social impact of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project and the e-tolling system set up to fund it. The fuel levy could have settled the South African National Roads Agency Limited’s debt.
Etolls. Sanral welcomes Nene’s e-toll stance:Thursday 26 February 2015. Sanral's Vusi Mona said Nene's statement proved e-tolls would not have a negative impact on the poor.
(SABC) The SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) on Thursday welcomed Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene's endorsement of the e-tolling system in Gauteng. Delivering his budget speech in Parliament on Wednesday, Nene said the toll tariffs would be adjusted downwards, but government remained committed to having road users fund improvements, to keep Sanral solvent. Sanral spokesperson Vusi Mona said Nene's statement proved e-tolls would not have a negative impact on the poor.
"Minister Nene's announcement of some relief for registered e-toll users will hopefully bolster compliance while ensuring that cost recovery from road users continues to be the principal financing mechanism," he said. E-tolls not a sound business model: Expert :Wednesday 21 January 2015. Sanral says the downgrade by Moody's did not come as a surprise.
(SABC) Political Economist, Lebohang Pheko, says Sanral’s downgrade by Moody’s does illustrate the difficulty to forecast the roads agencies business model. “The Moody’s downgrade illustrates the extent in which it is difficult to forecast, the violability and sustainability of the Sanral business model. However it does feed into a lot of concerns many of us had when the e-tolls were being proposed, that it was not a sound business model.” Rating agency Moody's has downgraded roads agency Sanral's economic outlook from stable to negative, due to debt and decreased e-toll revenue. Sanral’s Operations Executive, Inge Mulder, says the downgrade by Moody's did not come as a surprise. “It means that investors are still seeing uncertainty, whether to trust Sanral or whether to buy our bounds and so that’s the biggest impact on us.
Success of e-toll needs support of motorists:Friday 27 February 2015. OUTA was responding to media reports that government plans to introduce a R120 surcharge on annual car licence fees in Gauteng in a bid to rescue the system.
(SABC) The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) says any plans aimed at saving the besieged e-tolling system will not work without the support of the majority of road users. The alliance was responding to media reports that government plans to introduce a R120 surcharge on annual car licence fees in Gauteng in a bid to rescue the system. During his state of the province address on Monday, Premier David Makhura said the final decision on e-tolls will be made once the work of a team led by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has completed its work.
OUTA spokesperson, John Clarke says, “People have relatives in other provinces. E-tolls must be scrapped: Vavi:Tuesday 24 February 2015. Zwelinzima Vavi says only the super rich can afford e-tolls.
(SABC) The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) General Secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, says Gauteng e-tolls system must be scrapped. Speaking on SAFM's AM Live show, Vavi says Cosatu will ask for a meeting with the Deputy President over e-tolls. He says e-tolls are not working and are an expensive way of collecting and paying for debts. In his State of the Province Address in Johannesburg on Monday, Gauteng Premier David Makhura said the final decision on e-tolls will be made once Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa's team had completed its work.