Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has once again confirmed that the scrapping of e-tolls is a done deal.
Lesufi made this announcement when he addressed a capacity crowd of Gauteng citizens gathered at Nasrec Expo Centre, where he delivered his second State of the Province Address (SOPA) on Monday evening.
Lesufi said he met with Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana and Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga, who both agreed that the e-toll system must be scrapped.
“We have reached the stage where the people of Gauteng have rejected e-tolls system. We had a meeting with all affected parties. We have met with the finance minister and the minister of transport and both of them agree that the people of Gauteng have rejected the system. We have reached an agreement that by March 31, the process of discontinuing e-tolls will be made and the system will be history,” he said.
Despite previous declarations of scrapping the system in previous years including in 2022, the process to discontinue the system faced delays mainly from Treasury.
“E-tolls were a system that was introduced to our province by the national government in a bid to improve our roads. However, we have reached a point where we all accept that the people of Gauteng have rejected e-tolls,” he said.
Lesufi said a clear way forward will be communicated by Godongwana in his upcoming Budget Speech later this week.
However, this not being the first talk about the scrapping of e-tolls, it remains to be seen if this will be realised.
This comes after similar statements were made in October 2022 after Lesufi pronounced on the scrapping of the e-tolls shortly after Godongwana’s 2022 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement.
At the time, he indicated that the national and provincial governments would pay off Sanral’s debt on the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP).
The Star