Premier David Makhura going back on his word to abolish e-toll completely

1 October 2019

During a question and answer session in the Gauteng Legislature, the Gauteng Premier, David Makhura, indicated in his response to a question by the FF Plus that the Gauteng ANC's final position on the e-toll issue is that SANRAL's debt must be paid.

The FF Plus considers this position disgraceful seeing as the Gauteng ANC has always stated that it is totally opposed to e-toll.

Now, however, is seems that during recent negotiations with the national ANC government, the Gauteng ANC decided that certain road users, particularly large companies, must keep on paying e-toll.

The Premier gave this response after Adv Anton Alberts, FF Plus chairperson and leader in the Gauteng Legislature, confronted him because in the runup to the 2019 general elections, they repeatedly made it clear that they are totally opposed to e-toll. The Gauteng ANC even marched to the Union Buildings in protest against e-toll and the national ANC government.

Adv Alberts also expressed to the Premier that if the ANC in Gauteng really is serious about abolishing e-toll, they must declare a formal dispute with the national government in terms of the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act and exhaust the remedies contained therein.

Should all the remedies be exhausted without success, the provincial ANC government must take the national government to court.

The Premier merely responded by saying that there exists no dispute between the provincial and national governments regarding e-toll and his reaction reinforces the suspicion that Premier Makhura and his ANC team capitulated.

The FF Plus is, furthermore, concerned as it seems that large business will be sacrificed on the altar to pay off the e-toll debt while these companies are already highly taxed. This so-called solution will surely lead to more job losses as businesses try to absorb the e-toll costs.

Clearly the ANC cannot be trusted as regards the e-toll issue. The FF Plus will continue to fight to have e-toll abolished completely.

Issued by Anton Alberts, FF Plus national chairperson and MPL: Gauteng Legislature, 1 October 2019