Cosatu – e-tolls delayed in Gauteng
The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) announced on Friday (13 January 2012) that the controversial e-tolling system would not be launching in February 2012.
The agency released a statement on 10 January 2012 claming that three months after the start of e-toll registration, 212 906 Gauteng e-toll account units had been registered for phase one of the project.
Union group Cosatu persuaded Transport Minister Comrade Sibusiso Ndebele and Sanral to postpone the project during a meeting earlier on Friday 13 January 2012. Sanral had agreed to “address the current stakeholder concerns and issues raised in the petitions submitted to the Minister” and claims they are “committed to meeting all its obligations to the stakeholders, and is exploring different modalities”.
“This is a significant victory for the millions of residents of Gauteng who have expressed their total opposition to this attempt to force them to pay huge amounts of extra money just to travel on the province’s highways,” says Trade Union Federation, Cosatu.
The DA’s Neil Campbell, spokesman in the Gauteng legislature, added that “If we all stand together resolutely refusing to be part of this unjust toll system, it will fail because Sanral, [as the toll collection company] and the justice system cannot cope with a boycott by 95% of highway users.”
[Source: Sowetan]
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