The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in Ekurhuleni has announced that it will table a motion on the scrapping of e-tolls which will be debated by the Council of the City of Ekurhuleni on the 29th of November 2018.
As the IFP in Gauteng we have always maintained that the imposition of e-tolls on Gauteng residents was an error symptomatic of arrogance and bullying on the side of government, and perhaps the most inhumane move by the government in the last term.
In that regard, we rejected the implementation of e-tolling from the onset and warned that the system was not only a mockery to the poor residents of Gauteng but also irrational and unfeasible. But, irrespective of the early warnings of potential failure signified by deficiencies in the government procurement process around the e-toll project, the government of the day heroically declared that the e-tolling system is the most efficient way to fund our roads.
But as we predicted, the e-tolling system has proven to be nothing but a curse. It is unfriendly, expensive and reverses the apartheid spatial travelling arrangements of Gauteng. Compounding this is the fact that this unsustainable system is a barrier to economic growth as it affects the cost of living and that of doing business in the province of Gauteng.
In that vein, the IFP which has always led from the front in the struggle against e-tolls will in this motion call on the Executive Mayor, Mzwandile Masina, to:
Engage with the provincial and national departments of transport informing them about the negative impact that the e-tolling system is having upon the resident of the City of Ekurhuleni.
Petition the National Government to terminating the e-tolls project in its entirety and write – off all debt owed by road users.
Petition the Minister of Transport not to award the Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) Contract.
As the IFP we believe that we cannot remain silent in the face of such disregard for this mistaken system which is hell-bent of putting more strain on the people of this province who are already feeling the pinch of the economic downturn.
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Contact:
Alco Ngobese, Cllr
076 834 4066 / 079 412 9757
