The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (OUTA) has once again called for the scrapping of e-tolls. Following Gauteng Premier David Makhura’s state of the province speech yesterday, the organisation has praised his openness about the issue but says citizens want a resolution.
“OUTA notes Premier David Makhura’s sincere desire to see an amicable solution to the e-toll impasse; however, we reiterate our call for the underlying problem to be a recognised for what it is – an unresolved historical conflict arising from a failure by Sanral to observe the basic values and principles governing public administration, as defined in Chapter 12 of the Constitution,” the OUTA blog states.
“The chronic problems of Sanral’s lack of accountability and the public’s mistrust of this State Owned Entity, cannot be remedied without facing up to causes thereof. Citizens are not just looking for charitable financial relief for their e-toll bills, but an honest frank acknowledgement that Sanral has not lived up to its constitutionally defined obligations.
“Premier Makhura has shown a welcome sense of openness, but the problem is multidimensional and complex. There was clearly an intergovernmental dimension to the problem that arose between the Gauteng Provincial Government, Sanral, the Department of Transport and the National Executive over a decade ago. There was also a historical failure between government players to meet the requirements of Cooperative Governance as defined in Chapter 3 of the Constitution.
“Furthermore, given the experience of OUTA and many other stakeholders who have found themselves at odds with Sanral in the past decade, it is apparent that the Sanral CEO and Board have never seriously internalised the “basic values and principles governing public administration” as enshrined in the Chapter 12 of the Constitution.
“In OUTA’s opinion, nothing but a decision to mothball the e-toll decision, will heal the rift of trust between Sanral and citizens, arising from their arrogant, bullying, and adversarial manner which they have chosen to deal with their critics and the public at large. In the meantime, the debt can be paid from a slight increase in the fuel levy until a full social auditing process has been undertaken, and Sanral has become transformed into an inclusive, accountable and transparent agency.
“Unfortunately for Premier Makhura, the e-toll debacle has been a mess created at the national level but dumped into the lap of his provincial government, leaving them to bark up the socio-economic impact assessment tree of the e-tolling decision. Thus, we were not surprised that the Premier couldn’t say much more on the e-toll matter, than he did during his SOPA on Monday. Sadly, the e-toll decision remains a case of “work still in progress,” some four years after the public outrage began, and following fifteen months of wasteful expenditure on a failed system, since it was launch in December 2013.
“The grave injustices and shocking decisions by Sanral and the national government on this matter, cannot simply be explained away as a mistake and corrected with lower rates and pardons.”