• Log in
  • Sign up
  •  
  • About
  • Entrepreneurs
  • Rainmakers
  • 88mph Garage Nairobi
 
HumanIPOHome to African Tech
    
  • News
  • Activity
  • Startups
  • People

Follow African Tech scene

You have successfully subscribed!

Notify me!

Featured news

Construction begins on Kenya’s Konza Techno CitySocial media outrage at South African politicians’ attack on bank

Advertisement

Most read

  • PeakSoccerMoments.com launched for AFCON

    January 19, 2013

  • Python hacker envisions more inclusive hack community

    January 17, 2013

  • AfricaHackTrip to visit four African countries

    January 18, 2013

  • Safaricom ‘engineers’ con M-Pesa agents

    January 18, 2013

  • Information ministry centre of Eritrean ‘coup’

    January 22, 2013

  • Konza City actualization nears

    January 22, 2013

Latest by country

Kenya

  • Kenya risks missing global TV switchover deadline

    January 24, 2013

  • Kenya’s Yu Mobile to skip 3G and head straight to LTE

    January 24, 2013

South Africa

  • Helen Zille denies knowledge of SA’s Telkom sponsorship of TNA events, video suggests otherwise

    January 24, 2013

  • Banking malware used in South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana can now spread through Skype

    January 24, 2013

Nigeria

  • Expert advises African operators to expand brand equity with new strategies

    January 24, 2013

  • Banking malware used in South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana can now spread through Skype

    January 24, 2013

Follow us!

HumanIPO Twitter feed

Follow entrepreneurs, investors and tech enthusiasts!

Join today!

Latest by category

Startups

  • Konza City actualization nears

    January 22, 2013

Mobile

  • Airtel Gabon penalised for under-reporting

    January 24, 2013

  • Safaricom and Intel launch YOLO smartphone in Kenya

    January 24, 2013

Internet

  • High proportion of enterprise data leaks from mobile devices, reports Kaspersky

    January 24, 2013

  • Zimbabwean bank's website hacked and defaced, subsequently

    January 24, 2013

Telecoms

  • Zimbabwean Strive Masiyiwa named amongst Forbes'

    January 24, 2013

  • Airtel Gabon penalised for under-reporting

    January 24, 2013

Events

  • Kenya risks missing global TV switchover deadline

    January 24, 2013

Social Media

  • Twitter announces updates to Embedded Tweets

    January 24, 2013

  • Social media outrage at South African politicians’ attack on bank

    January 23, 2013

Gadgets

  • Safaricom and Intel launch YOLO smartphone in Kenya

    January 24, 2013

  • Samsung launches new Wi-Fi fridge

    January 23, 2013

December 14, 2012

The HumanIPO Debate: Should South African e-tolling go ahead?

Share Tweet
The South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) may have just won the court case threatening to scupper the Government’s e-tolling project, but with the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) refusing to give up the fight, the argument looks set to run into the new year.

 


HumanIPO reporters Richard Cutcher and Tom Jackson debate the issues.

The case for: Richard Cutcher

Motorists in Gauteng are already enjoying significantly improved roads thanks to huge investment by the government SANRAL. The idea to fund the upgrades through e-tolling did not appear overnight, but has been planned and publicised since 2008. Why should the people enjoying the new roads not pay for them?

Outa’s argument that Sanral has wasted too much time and money in delivering the project with  constant setbacks does not stand up because the latest delay is the direct result of the legal action taken by themselves. Parliamentary debates, exactly where the discussion should be held, have also had to be postponed while Outa maximises the coverage from a high-profile, expensive and otherwise worthless court case.

The introduction of the tariffs may also make drivers think twice about whether they want to make their journey in a fuel-guzzling car. Driving is increasingly expensive and this could be the shot in the arm people need to begin supporting other modes of transport. No one can argue a reduction in traffic is bad thing.

The case against: Tom Jackson

Gauteng’s e-tolls will be incredibly bad for business. The tolls will push up the cost of everything transported, placing jobs in jeopardy as business costs rise. Some companies may choose to move out of Gauteng altogether. It is also a potential blow to the tourism sector, especially car rental firms, with the average renter forced to pay an extra R32 per day to hire a car.

There will also be indirect costs, as many motorists will choose to use municipal roads instead, increasing congestion and driving up the maintenance costs. Public transport has, of course, been ignored and left to flounder. All this trouble and costs is absurd given the amount of money being spent on e-tolling: R14 million, which is almost as much as the highways themselves.

Motorists are also being asked to pay VAT on the tolls, raising the preposterous situation of being taxed on a tax. Fraud and billing problems are surely inevitable. It seems as though the government has sleepwalked into an expensive and unpopular disaster, which could have been avoided if they had held a proper public consultation on the subject. Instead, they are intent to ram the initiative through, with the lack of transparency that we have come to expect. Much of the information on the costs of the e-toll remains a secret.

Share Tweet

FB comments

Latest news

  • 10 minutes ago

    Kenya risks missing global TV switchover deadline

    Kenya’s Information and Communication Ministry permanent secretary Dr Bitange Ndemo has expressed fears that Kenya could miss the (more)

  • 40 minutes ago

    Zimbabwean Strive Masiyiwa named amongst Forbes'

    Strive Masiyiwa, Zimbabwean tycoon and founder of telecommunications company Econet Wireless, has been named by Forbes in their 2012 list (more)

  • 1 hr 42 min ago

    Airtel Gabon penalised for under-reporting

    Gabon’s telecoms regulator, Autorité de Régulation des Communications électroniques et des Postes (ARCEP), has fined Airtel for its (more)

  • 1 hr 25 min ago

    Kenya’s Yu Mobile to skip 3G and head straight to LTE

    Mobile phone operator Yu Mobile is to skip the development of a 3G network, instead focusing on developing an LTE network the company (more)

  • 1 hr 45 min ago

    High proportion of enterprise data leaks from mobile devices, reports Kaspersky

    A new report by Kaspersky Labs titled “Kaspersky Global IT Security Risks Survey Report” has revealed a high proportion of data leaks (more)

  • 2 hr 11 min ago

    Expert advises African operators to expand brand equity with new strategies

    Nigerian telecommunications companies and those operating in other parts of Africa have been advised to put more emphasis on evolving new (more)

  • 2 hr 31 min ago

    Zimbabwean bank's website hacked and defaced, subsequently

    Metropolitan Bank has suffered at the hands of malicious hackers after its website was hacked and defaced earlier in the week by a group (more)

  • 2 hr 45 min ago

    Helen Zille denies knowledge of SA’s Telkom sponsorship of TNA events, video suggests otherwise

    A video on YouTube shows Helen Zille specifically thanking Telkom for sponsoring The New Age's (TNA) business breakfast event and for (more)

  • image
    3 hr 5 min ago

    Safaricom and Intel launch YOLO smartphone in Kenya

    Leading mobile network operator Safaricom and chip-maker Intel have jointly launched a smartphone dubbed YOLO (You Only Live Once) in (more)

  • 3 hr 30 min ago

    Large-screen iPhones to be available from 2014, report says

    Speculation that Apple is set to release a large-screen iPhone continues, as a new report suggests the device will be available from 2014.

  • 3 hr 55 min ago

    Banking malware used in South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana can now spread through Skype

    Banking malware code known as Shylock has been modified and updated to be able to spread to devices using Microsoft’s Skype software, and (more)

  • 4 hr 20 min ago

    Dimension Data to provide global support for Riverbed deployments

    Dimension Data, the South African US$5.8 billion global ICT solutions and services provider, will deliver global support for Riverbed’s (more)

  • 4 hr 46 min ago

    Vodacom boosts SA tech education with bursaries

    South African network operator Vodacom has announced the awarding of bursaries worth R9.2 million (US$1.6 million) for undergraduate (more)

  • 5 hr 11 min ago

    RIM, Huawei and Samsung to open in Konza City

    Fourteen local and multinational corporations, including RIM, Huawei and Samsung, have committed to setting up shop in Kenya’s Konza (more)

  • 6 hr 11 min ago

    Twitter announces updates to Embedded Tweets

    Twitter has revealed updates to its Embedded Tweet feature, allowing easier embedding and faster visibility on sites while making the (more)

  • 7 hr 11 min ago

    SA Afrihost upgrading its ADSL network

    Afrihost, a South African Internet solutions company, has begun upgrading its Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) network with new (more)

  • 8 hr 11 min ago

    RIM announces BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10 is available for download

    Research In Motion’s (RIM) new Multi Platform Enterprise Mobility Management Solution, BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10 (BES10), is now (more)

  • 16 hr 55 min ago

    Looking to migrate applications to the cloud? SA ICT company believes it can help

    One of the largest and most prominent ICT companies in South Africa believes it has the solutions for organisations looking to migrate (more)

  • 17 hr 25 min ago

    Google breaks US$50 billion revenue mark in 2012

    Search giant Google has comfortably beaten analysts’ predictions by reporting US$14.4 billion revenue in the final quarter of 2012 and (more)

  • 17 hr 55 min ago

    Liberia Telecommunications Corporation launches fibre-optic cable services

    The Liberia Telecommunications Corporation (LIBTELCO) has launched its fibre-optic cable services based on the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) (more)

  • 18 hr 25 min ago

    Vodacom opens donation platform for individuals and organisations

    South African mobile network operator Vodacom has unveiled a new platform that enables people to donate money to non-profit organisations (more)

  • 18 hr 56 min ago

    Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini’s prices for South Africa revealed

    The Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini has been launched in South Africa and the company today (January 23) revealed the pricing recommendations for (more)

  • 19 hr 25 min ago

    Nigerian government will benefit from better policies on broadband penetration – Main One

    Main One, a broadband cable company, has declared the Nigerian government stands to benefit from broadening its policies on broadband (more)

  • 19 hr 50 min ago

    South Sudan plans to lay its own fibre-optic cable

    The East African nation of South Sudan plans to lay out fibre-optic cable to link its capital Juba with the numerous regional cables, in an (more)

  • 20 hr 11 min ago

    Nigerian IHS to expand across Sub-Saharan Africa by 2017

    Nigerian telecoms infrastructure company IHS plans to set up another three transmission towers in West or East Africa, or both, by 2017.

  • 20 hr 30 min ago

    Anabel Mobile accuses Nigerian government of hijacking its phone-for-farmer idea

    Nigerian operator Anabel Mobile has accused the government of hijacking its idea of distributing phones to farmers, in the latest in a line (more)

  • image
    20 hr 50 min ago

    Construction begins on Kenya’s Konza Techno City

    The construction of Konza Techno City, Sub-Saharan Africa’s first technopolis, has officially started following a groundbreaking ceremony (more)

  • 21 hr 11 min ago

    Botswana Government computerising plot allocations

    The government of Botswana will computerise all plot allocations through a programme called the Land Administrative Procedures Capacity and (more)

  • 21 hr 41 min ago

    Studentology to launch SA Yappo mobile app, aims for 30,000 users

    Yappo, a mobile payment app for students, will be released on campuses across the Western Cape, South Africa, on Friday, February 1.

  • 22 hr 7 min ago

    Expert recommends self development for budding Nigerian app developers

    Emerging app developers have been advised to take their education into their own hands by taking advantage of free online tutorials.

  • 22 hr 40 min ago

    Kenya declines to sign new international communication rules

    Kenya failed to endorse the new International Communications rules at the World Conference on International Telecommunications, after the (more)

  • 23 hr 10 min ago

    Ugandan taxman warns on increased cybercrime

    Uganda’s taxman the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has warned that cybercrime is prevalent in the country as “it is lucrative and (more)

  • 23 hr 40 min ago

    Digital mapping growing strong in SA’s IT sector

    A research study conducted by World Wide Works and mapIT has concluded that digital mapping has become one of the strongest growth areas in (more)

  • 1 day ago

    MTN launches Wi-Fi hotspot service in Uganda

    Integrated telecommunications services provider MTN has launched several hotspots in Uganda allowing the country’s Internet users, both (more)

  • 1 day 1 hours ago

    Mobile content market to reach US$3.36bn by 2018

    The mobile content market will grow by 42 percent to US$3.36 billion in the next five years, a new report by MarketsAndMarkets shows.

  • 1 day 2 hours ago

    Rwandan government to take charge of E-Soko in February

    Rwanda’s government is expected to take full control of E-Soko, a mobile-based app that updates farmers on market prices, during the (more)

  • 1 day 2 hours ago

    Orange and MFS Africa extend International money transfer in Mali

    Mobile network operator Orange and MFS Africa, a major African mobile wallets solutions firm, yesterday announced the extension of the (more)

  • 1 day 2 hours ago

    Vision247 to offer delivery of premium TV in Africa’s emerging markets

    London-based Vision247 is a new player eyeing the growing Africa market and aims to introduces Internet Protocol Television (IPTv) in the (more)

  • 1 day 3 hours ago

    SA’s Director-General of Communications placed on “special leave” by Minister

    Department of Communications (DoC) Director-General (DG) Rosey Sekese has been placed on “special leave” by Communications Minister (more)

  • 1 day 3 hours ago

    Samsung launches new Wi-Fi fridge

    The Samsung T9000 refrigerator connects with Wi-Fi to the home network and features world first functions such as a triple cooling system, (more)

  • 1 day 4 hours ago

    Nigerian operators on war path with regulator over anticipated sanctions

    Mobile networks have slammed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for the proposal to hit them with further sanctions.

  • 1 day 4 hours ago

    Social media outrage at South African politicians’ attack on bank

    The “You Can Help” campaign launched by First National Bank (FNB) has angered the African National Congress (ANC) and its affiliates (more)

  • 1 day 5 hours ago

    Globacom Nigeria launches Glo mobile Wi-Fi

    Nigerians are being offered another Wi-Fi option after telecommunications provider Globacom announced a new device which can be used at (more)

  • image
    1 day 19 hours ago

    Kenya to destroy one ton of pirated DVDs

    The Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) will destroy infringed DVDs and CDs weighing more than one ton on Thursday.

  • 1 day 20 hours ago

    NetClarity and ADS SAS partner to offer device security to African corporates

    NetClarity, a leading internal security firm for businesses, has partnered with ADS SAS, an ICT value added distributor, to offer security (more)

  • 1 day 19 hours ago

    Cellcom expands Internet usage with FOC launch

    Major Liberian mobile provider Cellcom GSM has assured its subscribers it will provide very fast internet services with the introduction of (more)

  • 1 day 20 hours ago

    TCRA plans to cut interconnection rates

    Interconnection rates in Tanzania are set to be reduced by 69 percent by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority in March to (more)

  • 1 day 20 hours ago

    Mobile money to save corporates 20% in cash sales expenses

    Businesses stand to save up to 20 percent in cash sales expenses from advancements in mobile money payments technology, according to (more)

  • image
    1 day 22 hours ago

    Konza City actualization nears

    Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki will tomorrow officially launch the country’s first smart city at a ceremony that will mark the start of (more)

  • 1 day 22 hours ago

    Safaricom’s losses bit of voice traffic market share to rivals

    Safaricom was the only mobile network operator in Kenya to have lost some of its market share in the calling category the three months to (more)

  •  Like us on Facebook
  •  Follow on Twitter
  •  Youtube
  • News
  • Startups
  • People
  • News RSS
  • About
  • Entrepreneurs
  • Rainmaker
  • 88mph Garage Nairobi
  • In press
  • Logo & brand
  • Feedback
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy