As the decade-long dispute between the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) and the people of South Africa draws to a close, industry has shown its support for the Organisation for Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) and for the work done by the organisation in unrelentingly trying to get eTolls removed since their inception. Read more here.
The local trade awaits further announcement from Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana on the way forward, likely to come either this week or next.
Dorian Toussaint, CEO and Co-Founder of ground travel connector and aggregator, Tousca, is ecstatic about the news that the long battle against e-tolls is coming to an end.
“OUTA has been incredibly patient and persevering,” Toussaint says.
However, he said the underlying issue of unethical handling of funds remains a major obstacle going forward. “We certainly have a problem in this country of funds being misused, and until that is sorted out, people are not going to trust alternative methods of collection from the Department of Transport,” Toussaint adds. “It is such a shame so much money has been wasted on this – not just in terms of funding infrastructure, but also in financing legal battles.”
Not much confidence remains in the DOT either, he said.
“The DOT’s plans are few and far between, and they are not very vocal or engaged with the industry. They do not understand the industry,” Toussaint explains. “Honestly, they have no strategy. They have got to look ahead in terms of streamlining public transport, but who knows how? They have absolutely no direction.”
Boon for Gauteng corporate travel
When corporate travellers from elsewhere in South Africa rent cars while travelling through Gauteng for business, they too are impacted by toll fees, which are added to their bills through the automatic e-tags fitted to all rental cars by law.
“Unless we hear otherwise, and until we get clarity in terms of exactly how the DOT is going to move forward, if e-tolls do indeed disappear, that would mean a reduction in business costs for corporate travellers,” says Otto de Vries, CEO of Asata. “This is a definite positive – one more expense removed from doing business in Gauteng.”
De Vries points out that this would benefit the Gauteng economy and remove a potential deterrent to doing business in Gauteng by making road travel throughout the province that much less costly for corporates.
“With a bit of luck, the Government will continue with the agenda and find other ways to pull funds into their budget besides e-tolls,” he says.
