The Catholic Church in South Africa has joined the ranks of political parties, trade unions and the scores of members of the public campaigning against e-tolling.
Similar to the message of the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (OUTA) and the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU), the Catholic Church has called on South Africans not to purchase e-tags nor cooperate with the South African National Roads Agency Limited’s (SANRAL) plans to e-toll highways in Gauteng.
“We… call for the immediate suspension of the GFIP (Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project) e-tolling project and a full-access review of it by an appropriate forum,” said the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference’s (SACBC) justice and peace department in a statement yesterday.
The SACBC added: “Government has a mandate to govern, by virtue of having won an election. Does this mean that they are unaccountable until the next election? Clearly not. Transparent public consultations on controversial issues are bound to be held and taken into account. We fear that this has not been adequately done in this case.”
The SACBC believes it is inappropriate for the e-tolling implementation costs to be almost 74 per cent of the project’s total cost.
“Anything that raises the costs of doing business in the core of our South African economy will impact on the cost of living, and will disproportionately impact on the poor. Why are we investing in more expensive public infrastructure that fails to address the desperate need for an integrated public transport system that is affordable?” concluded the SACBC.
In response SANRAL said the Church’s objection to e-tolling should not be a call for anarchy. “If we are serious about being a democracy we should utilise the opportunities we are given,” Eye Witness News quoted Vusi Mona, spokesperson for SANRAL, as saying.
“We are extremely pleased that an entity of such stature and magnitude as the Catholic Church has come out to defend the country’s citizens against a questionable decision and action by the state,” Times Live quoted Wayne Duvenage, chairman of OUTA, as saying.
Duvenage added: “This denouncement of e-tolling by the church was clearly conducted after significant research and an introspective assessment of the pros and cons of e-tolling.”
