The Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference’s Peace and Justice department has launched an online petition against e-tolling in South Africa through the popular petition site, Avaaz.org.
“Our government in South Africa has ignored the widespread dissatisfaction of large numbers of our people and gone ahead with the implementation of e-tolls as the chosen way of paying for the new highways,” said the religious organisation on the petition site.
The SA Catholic Bishops added: “They have chosen to ignore the wishes of the people – now they need to be reminded that we are the people who voted them into power and in less than nine months they will once again be asking us to vote them back into power.”
The SA Catholic Bishops said the South African public have an opportunity to change the situation through next year’s elections as well as through the petition.
“They will find it very difficult to ignore us, especially in the light of the coming election.
“E-tolls will add yet another burden to our already overburdened people – with escalating electricity prices, fuel prices, and food prices. It is time we showed them that this cannot continue.”
The SA Catholic Bishops urge all South Africans to sign the petition in a move to demonstrate how they feel about the government ignoring their opposition to e-tolling.
The petition, titled “We call for the immediate suspension of e-tolling on the GFIP (Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project)” will be delivered to president Jacob Zuma once enough signatures have been garnered.
