The foreign owned e-toll system is nothing but an enrichment scheme for the few
18 August 2016
The latest revelations that the company collecting payments for the e-toll system in Gauteng is 100% foreign owned after Matemeku Investments, which was a BEE shareholder decided to sell its shares, have provided enough proof that the e-toll system is nothing but a get rich quick scheme for the few. Matemeku Investments sold their 57% of the company to Kapsch an Austrian company for more than R70million.This means that Gauteng motorists are being fleeced and forced to pay extortionate amounts to enrich a few black faces and some foreign company , while there is nothing to gain for motorists and citizens. This is what happens when government decides to outsource its mandate of building and financing our road infrastructure to the rapacious private sector.
One of the local beneficiaries of this enrichment schemes, Moss Mashishi is quoted as having said, “Over 13 years ago we invested in a small company whose growth and achievements have more than met our business objectives and have given us excellent returns.”. Nothing is said here what the company has done for the country and the province to justify such windfall. We refuse to allow this enrichment scheme to use and abuse Gauteng motorists for the benefit of the few.
COSATU reiterates its call for the scrapping and the dismantling of the e-tolls system. This also flies in the face of government's full-throated and unwavering defence of the e-tolls on investments grounds. This flawed system is not good for the country, the economy and is only benefitting foreigners.
This is unjustifiable, when we are struggling to roll-out of free education and the national health insurance scheme. What this country needs is an integrated public transport model that will be affordable and accessible to the many South Africans, who are victims of the apartheid spatial planning. The privatisation of our national assets to foreign companies is not only unwise but also scandalous. Our freeways provide a vital public service for all South Africans.
COSATU does not support any investment that does not add to our economy’s productive capacity that also fails to help us improve our production skills. We should be careful that incentives that we handout to attract investment are not expensive to the citizens and difficult to undo later like the e-toll system. This does not only create distortions in the economy but also strangle it. There are no economic benefits that the people have gained with the introduction of the e-toll system.
Our roads were built over many years with workers' hard earned taxes and labour. We refuse to see all that hard work privatised and also to be told to pay again in order to enrich some few foreign investors. COSATU remains unwavering in its opposition to the privatisation of public roads and goods!
Issued by Sizwe Pamla, National Spokesperson, COSATU, 18 August 2016
