While our government gears up to go to court and fight the implementation of E-tolling on the roads of Gauteng, the society drowns in anger, asking if this was well thought of by our government. Most people are evidently against all this, considering the strike that took place on the 7th of March, simply because for most families this will be another added cost which people say they cannot afford. With the recent announcement that E-tolling fees will be linked to inflation by BusinessReport, many motorist are yet to be shocked on the costs.
iOL reports say on average motorist are to spend about about R7 121 in the year 2012, and possibly an average of about R8 308 in the year 2016, is the government really asking too much from us? Yet again has the government educated the society enough about this new system or could it be that we are simply complaining, withought having thought about the benifits, after all this is meant to give us better maintained roads, or has the government really gone over board?
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ReplyDeleteI believe that the government has totally gone over board. To be honest I don't really see any benefits coming out of this, isn't the tax money supposed to be fixing the roads? Instate what the government does is to encourage teenagers to have kids in budles so they cn have a share to this money that was suppose to be fixing the roads. Most people don't know how this supposed to work, so to be honest the government hasn't deviced any method that would teach our people about this new system. It all lies in the hands of us as citizens of south africa, if we can stand together and agree on one thing, one thing that would be not to register for these e-tolls ,then the government will be forced to shut down the program, it once happnd in the USA, and the citizens there didn't register, so the government was left with no choice.
ReplyDeletebefore i read this article/blog i thought e-tolling was another scheme government is pulling to impose another form of taxation; however, one point made here that probably we (the public) have not been educated on the benefits this e-tolling may yield for us; that has changed my perseption of e-tolling and sparked interest in what it might have to offer as benefits for me and who knows they may outweigh the costs that informed the march. We cannot however ignore that any cost in transportation has a knock-on effect on the prices of goods and services. So it will really be interesting to learn how the possible benefits outweigh all these concerns.
ReplyDeleteGreat article by the way:- well written and to the point !!!
The things is the government does things without consulting with the public and that courses problems in the long run, what needs to be done is to educate the public by doing so the wouldn't be any resistance. I had that if motorists purchase the tickets in advance they are given a discount which most people will be happy to hear about.
ReplyDeleteI do not agree at all with this e-tolling nonsense. Why should we pay for something that we are already paying taxes for? I can see the projected figures but the argument is that we are already paying taxes for govt to improve our roads, public transport systems etc. What is worst is that the most frequent users like taxis and buses are exempted. Taxis are already an industry that is using are roads for free, their profits are not taxed yet it is a an industry worth billions of rand. Why must we bail out almost all govt responsibilities? It is ESKOM, Denel, SABC, SAA etc, haaayi sekwanele manje.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the government really is asking too much from us, ans what I fail to understand is that, why is the e-tolling only done in Gauteng. Are we perseved as province that has money. The government should have thought of ways of maintaining these roads before coming up with the e-tolling nonsense. Already the majoring of the people are pulling it hard to make ends meat and this is just an unneccessary burden we do not need. We seem to be doing most of governments responsibilities as tax payers and it just doesnt make sense.
ReplyDeleteWe are counting days and the clock is ticking towards April 2012 guys, can't we use technology and rally more support behind COSATU and to really show our dissatisfaction regarding this daylight robbery. Today it's the e-tolling and before we know it, we will be buying each Cabinet Minister an official private jet.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to reiterate what the Federation and opposition parties have been saying all along regarding this issue, it is that "South Africans are being taken for a ride." We are milked dry. When you receive your salary your already taxed. You pay your rates and taxes your taxed. You buy your groceries you pay tax. At the petrol station your charged fuel levy. You sell your property at times not by choice but because your down grading your charged property gains tax. They enlarge the roads and we have to foot the bill? SAA is already requesting a 6 billion rand bail out from government and trust me, we are gonna pay for it one way or another. Sieeees, Gaaaaah!
ReplyDeleteThis is not on people. They are killing us. Where does this government think we get the money? Fuel costs have already gone way past R11 per liter for the first time. Do we have to pay for service delivery that they always promise us when they are campaigning for votes?
ReplyDeleteGovernment needs to consult with the public before it imposes especially on their finances.
ReplyDeleteMaybe its just me, but whenever I have come up to Jozi for holiday, or to see friends and family, there has ALWAYS been some sort of construction underway on Jozi's highways! Is government admitting that they have bitten more than they can chew, and making Jozi drivers pay for their error and short-sighted-ness is the way to go?... And why is it that the e-tolling is only taking place in Gauteng?! I am very sure that there are roads in the Eastern Cape that are in dire need of attention; but since the focus is on Jozi, they will remain in horrendous condition.... I would also like to know that which company and politician (or politicians wife!) is going to be profiting from this e-tolling through 'trusts' and companies they run.
ReplyDeleteMost of us seem to agree that the government should have consulted with the public first, in our honest opinions, where should they draw the line in consulting the public? we cannot honestly expect all decisions to be run past the public.
ReplyDeleteSecondly had the government asked for your opinion, would you have chosen to remain with narrow roads and pay no expenses? Aren't these extended roads working to our advantage anyway?
firstly i think extensive consultation should have been done before they embarked on this. i think that was not done. secondly educating the general population on what it was proposing to do and the system was going to work and how it was going to affect their pocket should have been, i feel it was not done. if it was i must have missed it. i havent sided with Vavi before but this time around i'm supporting him and the representatives of the civic society in protesting the way in which the whole thing is being shoved down our throats.
ReplyDeleteTax on the working class alone is a burden and now Zuma's Administration(ZA) wants us to pay for their poor planning just like the Eskom tariff hikes and load shedding? stealing from working law abiding citizen only to give to the corrupt. I think the E Toll should go live after the ZA has dropped and clamped down on the following figures: Crime rate, unemployment and South Africans living under the bread line......
ReplyDeleteour goverment is just greedy for money to feed thier corrupted life styles
ReplyDeleteThe government is trying to pull a fast on here! The initial money for the roads was already paid by our taxes. Now they are trying to charge us again for their mismanagement of those funds. It's a nonstarter, we must allow it to happen.
ReplyDeleteAbout a month ago I drove along the R21 highway, from Joburg to Hatfield. It had been quite some time since I had driven on that route, and I was amazed how fast and smooth the drive was. Was South Africa becoming a world class country with world class infrastructure? At that moment, I was proudly South African!
ReplyDeleteMy sense of pride lasted only about a minute then I remembered who had to finance this piece of modernisation; me and millions of other Gautengers. I pay all my taxes like the good citizen that I am but my pockets are not deep enough for additional taxes. What also gets to me about e-tolling is that it is a system imported from abroad without considering the crucial issue of context. The South African reality is that we have a dysfunctional public transport system and thousands of people have no choice but to use their own cars for commuting to and from work, as well as other purposes. The Gautrain - a magnificent piece of engineering by the way - is useless to millions of Gautengers as it is inaccessible and unaffordable.
Our wonderful Constitution guarantees us the right to information, and our government failed us on this. Frankly, e-tolling should be scrapped.
Cosatu strikes came a bit too late, way too late. Why didn’t they stage these protests before the initial construction? The toll gates are already standing, meaning there are only going to be used. The only option now is to negotiate reasonable toll fees *under a rand*, and too push for trasparency. The Austrian company stands to make billions each year, from a road network that was already ranked 2nd best in Africa, is this just a front to raise government funds? Why didn’t they approach other African states in dire need of road network improvement, caz this is where the money is. My question is how did this decision run past the ministry of transport, Cosatu and all the bureaucratic red tape without any opposition, something smells fishy.
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