While acceding that the controversial Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) and associated e-toll system “is not a perfect solution”, Transport Minister Dipuo Peters has defended government’s decision to implement a user-pays system, telling the Advisory Panel on the Socioeconomic Impact of E-tolls on Tuesday that “doing nothing was not an option”.

“It’s not a perfect solution, but it is lawful and wasn’t undertaken without thought and consideration. The work done on the highways in Gauteng cannot be done ‘gratis’.

“[Government] did consider alternatives to the user-pays principle, such as the ring-fencing of the fuel levy, but decided against it for several reasons, as National Treasury will outline later this week,” she said.

Peters’ comments came on the first day of a three-day submission process to the panel, during which the Department on Transport (DoT), National Treasury and the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) were expected to make a case for the system.

The formation of the panel to review the long-contested e-toll system and assess the socioeconomic impact of the tolling system on the province was announced by Gauteng Premier David Makhura during his inaugural State of the Province Address on June 27.

Once it had completed its investigation, the panel would be required to submit monthly reports, as well as a final report and list of recommendations to the Gauteng provincial government (GPG) by November 30.

The formation of the panel had made public an apparent clash of positions on e-tolling between the GPG and the DoT, the latter of which remained steadfast in support of the funding mechanism.

Further arguing in defence of e-tolls, Peters noted that government was occasionally forced to explore other revenue streams to fund development, especially its capital expenditure programme.

She reiterated that no registered public transport vehicle was expected to pay for the e-tolling tariffs, largely because government believed users of public transport were chiefly those in the low-income bracket.

“Therefore, government wishes to allay fears that the e-toll system will affect or has affected the poor. The concessions government has made to reduce the cost of transport for the users of the Gauteng e-tolled road network are a clear indication that this government cares for its people and has listened to concerns raised by them,” she commented.

Peters added that the decision to implement the GFIP with its chosen funding mechanism was taken after a thorough consultative process, and that its implementation was in compliance with appropriate legislation and confirmed by “six courts of law and 17 judges”.

“And here I must pause and express our disappointment with what we see as a creeping tendency to disregard court judgments. It cannot be, that in a constitutional democracy such as ours, people can choose which court judgment they will abide by and which one they will not,” she noted.

Peters emphasised that government was carefully selective in its use of the user-pay principle and, as a result, the ratio between tolled and nontolled roads would “always” be in favour of nontolled roads.

According to the Minister, around 85% of the current national road network was not tolled, while 15% was tolled.

The GFIP constituting “only” 1% of the entire network under Sanral’s control, she added.

Peters, meanwhile criticised those who had condemned Sanral during the e-toll process, saying that Sanral was merely the implementing agency of government’s national transport policies.

The agency did not make policy, nor did it decide on financing, she highlighted.

“Thus, the spurious allegations about Sanral ‘milking it’ or ‘profiting at the expense of the public’ must be stopped,” Peters argued, adding that she hoped that the various government agencies’ engagements with the panel over the next three days would “affirm the truths, complete the half-truths and jettison the lies” surrounding the GFIP and the e-toll system.

National Treasury was expected to make submissions to the panel on Wednesday, followed by Sanral, on Thursday.