ANCYL calls upon young people to oppose the Gauteng e-tolls
Members of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) are called upon to support and participate in the Congress of South African Trade Union's (COSATU) march against e-tolling. The march will simultaneously take place in Johannesburg and Tshwane on Friday, 30 November 2012.
Our movement cannot tolerate the privatization of our highways - public assets. The ANC Youth League has long said that the e-tolls are an added financial burden on already destitute young people and workers alike. They further constitute a shift of the burden of the delivery of infrastructure from the government, which collects billions in revenue for such projects, to the people who can barely afford the ever-rising cost of living.
Until government provides a safe, reliable and integrated public transport system, government cannot even begin to speak of a user-choice principle for the tolled rolls. The prospect of reduced tariffs will also not be welcomed. As reports are also coming to the fore that more than fifteen percent of the money that is collected funds the collection system alone, ensuring that certain individuals get rich on the back of the suffering of our people. We have no doubt therefore that this dreaded system will only exacerbate the social problems that the country is already faced with.
We therefore support the COSATU's call to engage in public demonstrations, clearly cognisant of the farce that is the public hearing processes and the so called review of the collection system. Young people must swell the ranks of the downtrodden who will on Friday participate in legal and protected marches to several government departments involved in the e-tolling disgrace. On the 6 December 2012 we too must bring freeways around Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane to a standstill.
That it is Governments responsibility to pay for Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project is undisputed. The thought of the youth being burdened with such debt is ludicrous. "The mother of all battles" is imminent. Tick - tock the Government must find another source of funding.
Statement issued by the ANC Youth League, November 28 2012
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