COSATU calls on Premier Makhura and President Cyril Ramaphosa to resolve the e-toll saga once and for all

4 April 2018

The Congress of South African Trade Unions is deeply worried by the reports that motorists, who have defaulted on paying their e-toll fees risk losing their licenses if the new Aarto Bill is passed. This is not only outrageous but it borders on government carelessness.

We call on the Gauteng Premier David Makhura and President Cyril Ramaphosa to speedily resolve that e-toll saga once and for all. We call on the NCOP to send back this unreasonable bill and President Cyril Ramaphosa not to sign this bill with these ridiculous clauses. This is undermining the whole purpose of Aarto Bill, which is to change the driving culture of South Africans.

The issue of e-tolls has nothing to do with keeping the people safe but has a lot to do with the privatization of our roads and profit making. We will intensely oppose any attempts to use the Aarto Bill to go ahead with a policy that has been overwhelmingly rejected by the people of Gauteng and South Africans in general.

It is still a mystery for us as to why a policy that was roundly rejected by the ANC structures and Alliance partners is still being smuggled into legislations. The ANC government needs to know that if this bill is allowed to pass as is; it will have to deal with the pushback and anger of motorists across the province and the country over this ill-conceived idea.

Issued by Sizwe Pamla, National Spokesperson, COSATU, 4 April 2018