Moment of truth for electronic tolls



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The executive director of South Africa’s National Highway Agency (Sanral), Skhumbuzo Macozoma, has stressed that the government must soon make a decision on electronic tolls to save the struggling company.

Speaking in an interview with him sunday timeMacozoma said that Sanral faces mounting debt problems due to non-payment of electronic tolls by South African drivers, adding that a decision must soon be made on whether to scrap the project.

“We need an answer and we urgently need it,” he said. “The matter is in the cabinet and we must press for a decision to be made as soon as possible.”

“All we are interested in is receiving funding to be able to do the work we have to do.”

“We are no longer pushing the electronic toll agenda at all costs,” he added.

Macozoma said that Sanral is struggling to guarantee its liquidity and needs a resolution from the government as soon as possible on whether to eliminate electronic tolls to move forward and possibly recover from its dire financial situation.

Mixed messages on electronic tolls

Government representatives have given contradictory accounts on the future of the electronic toll system.

Gauteng Prime Minister David Makhura recently said that President Ramaphosa assured him that the system would be scrapped in favor of a more sustainable one.

“President Cyril Ramaphosa has assured me that a lasting solution has been found and that an announcement by the president is imminent,” Gauteng Prime Minister David Makhura said.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, however, has said that electronic tolls will remain.

The electronic toll system has been extremely unpopular since its inception, and this has resulted in many Gauteng residents failing to pay their outstanding electronic toll fees.

Electronic tolls have a long and controversial history in South Africa since they were implemented in 2013 by the Austrian company Electronic Tolling Company (ETC), and it is unlikely that many South Africans will miss out on the seven-year experiment.

Sanral currently owes R40 billion on the Gauteng Highway Improvement Project (GFIP) and, while it said in 2019 that it would no longer seek electronic toll debt through the courts, it will continue to seek payments from motorists.

This is despite strong anti-electronic toll sentiment among South African drivers and the head of the provincial government.

“We remain determined to ensure that electronic tolls are not part of the future of our province,” Makhura. said in july 2019.

“We are even willing to contribute something as the provincial government to ensure that electronic tolls are eliminated. There is no way back.”

A full timeline of events describing the failure of the electronic toll system can be read here.

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