NATIONAL NEWS - The time for talking about e-tolls is over, and if the ANC wants to hold on to the Gauteng province in next year’s election it should do something about them.

That ’s according to Ben Theron, CEO of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa).

“They need to talk, but we had this conversation before the local elections,” Theron said yesterday, noting the DA’s control of Pretoria and Johannesburg.

“They [the ANC] have already lost two cities; can you imagine losing the province?  The problem is the minister has been briefed that when he speaks to Outa, he must be ready for a hiding. That ’s not our intention. We want to talk about working together and finding common solutions.”

On Friday during his budget vote speech, Transport Minister Blade Nzimande said the department was revamping its roads policy, which would contain proposals on the funding model of the country’s road network.

“As part of reviewing the Gauteng highway improvement scheme, we will heighten our consultation to arrive at a solution for this perennial problem,” Nzimande said.

“These consultations will form a path towards the discussions of the Sanral [South African National Roads Agency] operating model, including the new toll roads policy.”

In February during his state of the province address, Premier David Makhura spoke of setting up a panel “ to review the impact of e-tolls and invite new proposals on how we can find a lasting solution to this matter, working with the national government, municipalities and all sectors of society”.

“While we shall not promise easy solutions and claim easy victories, we must make it clear that we cannot close our eyes to the cries of sectors of our population who are severely affected by the cost of travelling across the province,” Makhura said.

According to spokesperson Thabo Masebe, Makhura had discussed the e-toll issue with President Cyril Ramaphosa, who “agreed something needed to be done”.

Ramaphosa’s spokesperson did not respond to a request for an update. And while Ramaphosa, Nzimande and Makhura all agreed on the need for panels and consultations and reviews, and little actual progress was made, Sanral continued to haemorrhage money.

In July last year, then transport minister Joe Maswanganyi revealed printing and posting the e-toll invoices alone had cost R327  million since the project’s launch in December 2013.

Sanral’s 2017 financial statements showed R3.6 billion in outstanding e-toll fees, and, of the more than 1.8  billion invoices issued between April 2015 and March 2017, more than 1.3  billion were unpaid.

“Every three or four weeks, someone says we need to talk,” said Theron.

Article: Caxton publication, Alberton Record.