E Tolls Go Live – Why South Africans Hate them

Posted on December 2, 2013 Updated on December 3, 2013

Even as I write this in my coffee fueled annoyance, I cant believe the audacity and just sheer ‘go-stuff-off’ attitude of the South African government. I have been quite for sometime on this blog and I appreciate those many ears that have patiently listened to my belly-aching about how kak trasport is in my country in earlier posts. You have feigned sympathy and scrolled down as I recounted the atrocious level of service and the daily battle many face in the simple exercise of going to work. You laughed with me and at me as I recounted tales from the metro-rail and Zulu wars with taxi drivers and mocked vigorously at my simple dream to own my own vehicle.

It seems, However that our ministers are not satisfied until every single person who commutes is properly plagued by the simple task of going to work. As of midnight today, Monday 03 December 2013, the E-toll system is now live.

From 2007, this storm has been brewing. It began with a consultation, or should I say a joke thereof that appeared obscurely on a corner of an October 2012 Gauteng Gazzete. Yes. right! because that’s  our periodical of choice in the morning while we drink tea and eat magwinya. That and an add in 6 news papers was all the communication this project received. 3.5 million registered vehicles, and only 28 responses was the feedback from this notification! hm! ya! no! That was more than enough transparency and consultation to go ahead with spending R 20 billion of our money on a pointless colossal display of misspending and maladministration…. 20 BILLION!

For the first time ever, white conservatives would phone in to talk radio shows and vehemently say shocking statements like, “Ya! I agree with COSATU!”. Yes, COSATU, the hyper-communist union body. They planned a mass demonstration and every one, in a glimmer of solidarity between Black, White and other miscellaneous races, as in the rugby worldcup of 1995 unified as one and said “voetsek ETOILET!”

Not only was this System sprung on the public, it makes not sense on a number of levels, Ill touch on a few.

• The gantries will be paying for old roads.
• A simple fuel Levy would have sufficed in paying for the claimed costs of roads.
• A foreign company has been called in to construct and manage the system, meaning most of the money wont filtrate back into our economy.
• There is no alternative transport or alternative routes outside of the Highways that will be tolled.

OUTA, the civilian organisation plagued the plans of SANRAL with court cases and lawyers, but judging by the tone of my blogging here, their efforts did not save the day.

The secretary of COSATU Zwelinzima Vavi, the champion behind the Civilian fight against E-toll is caught in a Clinton Lewinsky esk scandal that saw him suspended effectively slowing the mass action leg portion of the fight.

Even after generous financial support from the DA, The official opposition party, OUTA’s legal leg of the battle that went from the boxing ring of the constitutional courts to the karate dojo of the Supreme Court ended in bitter defeat. Even after rematches in the form of appeals.

Which brings us inadvertently… here.

Here is whats going to happen: On top of your car payment, Petrol, and insurance costs,you will be paying some oversees company for installing and operating the fancy E-toll system, number one.

Two, you will soon realise as stated above that there are no alternative roots and after a brief read of my previous post, that there is no alternative transport.

You are going bend over and take it politely, and on top of the already breaking point of your living expenses, pay more in continued funding of blatant poor administration.

Or, you will not get the E-toll tag, you will not pay the fines that follow and stand together with other non-pansy South Africans, and collapse this system by way of non participating.

What will be? Is this a democratic country or not?

I told you, we can change this!