The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng notes the response by outgoing Premier David Makhura to the DA’s press conference on e-tolls yesterday.
The fact of the matter is the DA has been speaking publicly against the implementation the e-toll system since 2013.
The failing ANC however, has been speaking with a forked tongue on e-tolls and has been making false promises that e-tolls will be scrapped and that they have no future in Gauteng.
Premier Makhura established a Commission of Inquiry into the feasibility of e-tolls in the province. This Commission recommended that e-tolls be scrapped but no action was taken by the Premier.
The same Premier made an announcement during his 2018 State of the Province that he will be meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa to discuss this issue.
To date we have not received any feedback.
Surprisingly, late last year Premier Makhura lead a triparte march to the Union Buildings against e-tolls; who was he fooling?
After all these claims and promises that he has made to the public about his role in ensuring the e-tolls are scrapped in Gauteng, the e-tolls are still in existence.
If he was serious about scrapping e-tolls this could have been done with a long time ago.
The Premier claims that his government is at an advanced stage in resolving the issue of e-tolls through the office of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
If the premier was successful on the issue of e-tolls the contract would not have been extended.
This is yet another broken promise by the failing ANC in Gauteng.
The DA maintains that e-tolls is an unfair tax burden on the already over-burdened residents of Gauteng and was implemented without consulting Gauteng residents on the matter.
We have always been against the implementation of e-tolls.
In our capacity as the opposition in the province, we have written to the Premier, submitted petitions and debated this issue in the legislature.
We will continue to put pressure on the failing ANC to scrap e-tolls in the province.