Following Tony Ehrenreich’s statement that he cannot remember the African National Congress (ANC) Cape Town caucus voting against the opposition of e-tolling in the province, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has hit back with proof.
HumanIPO reported on Tuesday on the unlikely political agreement by the DA, ANC and Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) to fight against the South African Roads Agency Limited’s (Sanral) plan for e-tolling in the Western Cape.
The Cape Times quoted Ehrenreich, Cosatu’s provincial secretary as saying: “I can’t say I recall that happening. We would never do that. We have always been against tolling.”
Ivan Meyer, DA leader in the Western Cape said: “Today the DA releases conclusive proof that Tony Ehrenreich, Cosatu’s provincial secretary, led the ANC caucus in Cape Town to a unanimous vote against the DA-led City’s decision to fight Sanral’s proposed tolls in the Western Cape.”
According to Meyer, minutes of the City of Cape Town’s council meetings reveal Ehrenreich’s claims that “we would never do that” as untrue.
The minutes reveal that:
On September 1, 2011 “the ANC caucus, led by Tony Ehrenreich, unanimously voted against the City’s decision to declare an intergovernmental dispute with Sanral.”
On December 8, 2011, “the ANC abstained from voting for the City’s recommendation that the intergovernmental dispute around toll roads be extended to the national ministers of transport and environmental affairs.”
“As recently as two weeks ago they opposed the City’s plan of action to oppose the toll roads in a portfolio committee meeting for transport, roads and stormwater,” Meyer said.
Meyer believes Ehrenreich is toeing the ANC party line by supporting e-tolling in council, “but schizophrenically tells the public Cosatu is opposing the tolls”.
Meyer said the DA has been fighting the N1 and N2 Winelands Toll Project for the past decade, both in city council and in provincial government.
“The public must not be fooled by politicians like Mr Ehrenreich who want to save face for the ANC while his party uses national government to empty ordinary people’s pockets with expensive tolls,” concluded Meyer.
The DA have since uploaded a scanned image of the minutes document to their Facebook page.
