Pravin Gordhan, South Africa’s finance minister, in a written response to Anton Alberts, an advocate from the Freedom Front Plus’ (FF+), questions posted in the National Assembly, outlined the government’s rationale for e-tolling, according to Legalbrief Today.
Gordhan used the findings of research conducted by wiseGeek and the University of Nottingham to back his argument, which stated that the toll system has the potential to deal “more directly and effectively” with the challenge of urban traffic congestion than a fuel levy by “favouring public transport over private transport”.
The Democratic Alliance said last month they plan to fight e-tolling within the NCOP council while the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (OUTA) said the South African Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) is not yet ready to implement e-tolling.