Gauteng Premier David Makhura reiterated his stance on e-tolls, saying he wants to do away with the unwanted system and is willing to contribute money from provincial government to help end it.
Makhura was addressing scores of people at the State of the province address at the University of Johannesburg Soweto Campus, on Monday.
He says his government’s anti-e-toll stance has not changed, adding that the ANC is determined to ensure that e-tolls are not part of Gauteng’s future.
“Our position has not changed on e-tolls, it wasn’t for elections. The e-tolls have no future in Gauteng, it wasn’t for election. This matter is in the hands of national government. I have the Minister of Transport; I have been talking with him about how to take forward the work of the President on e-tolls. You’ll see there will be significant movement on this matter because I want to insist there is no turning back on this matter. As the provincial government, we are prepared to put some money where our mouth is in order to deal with the debt and to show how serious we are on this matter.”
Moving forward, the sixth administration will be prioritising key areas in moving the province forward.
Opposition parties are however, not convinced by Makhura’s speech, some labelling it as a talk shop.
[WATCH] We will expose the ANC’s lies on the #eTolls issue. #GPSOPA19 pic.twitter.com/sBnuiE5mHO
— Solly Msimanga (@SollyMsimanga) July 1, 2019
Premier Makhura has now given his MEC’s 100 days to outline their programmes of action.
WATCH RELATED VIDEO BELOW:
Wayne Duvenage from the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse says e-tolls have reached the end of the road.
“We’ve heard this before not just recently not even before the election but couple of years now that e-tolls have no place in Gauteng; and yet they continue to limp along. The compliance levels are down to 20% now.
“I think the public are fed up. Those few that are paying now is getting less and less. If it is scrapped, people who’ve been paying are not going to get their monies back. So we are saying to the Premier, you’ve got to force government to make this decision because it is really half baked now and it’s in limbo. And there are people who still paying; this is costing them. This was the worst decision they could have made 10-years ago when they ticked the box of going e-tolls.”
