Photo by: Duane Daws
Former Finance Minister and Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel on Friday spoke out in defence of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP), noting that the defiance against the e-toll and gantry system was as a result of South Africans having an issue with governance.
His comment follows reports earlier this week that the South African National Road Agency Limited (Sanral) would write off about R3.6-billion in e-toll debt older than three years. Sanral has, however, denied these claims.
“Some of the changes that were brought with the GFIP are fantastic. If you look at the R21 today and you look at what it was a decade ago, it’s quite inconceivable that the change has been that rapid,” he told a South African Institution of Civil Engineering leadership meeting on Friday.
Noting that the Department of Transport had copied the idea of the gantries and e-tolls from other countries such as China, the US and many cities in Europe, which had “exactly the same gantry system”, he said it was concerning that it had become a compliance issue.
Manuel added that, “because government is not prepared to tackle such a big challenge, you sometimes get the outcome that we have”.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse stated four out of five motorists were currently not paying e-tolls, which indicates that “mass social protest is working”.
However, Sanral said it would continue to attempt to recover unpaid e-tolls by taking defaulters to court.