ok so for all you joburgers going to be affected by this i thought we could have a lil chat about it. in order for me to get to my college on mon, wed and fri i will be going through about 3 of these, to my boyfriend also 3 or 4, considering that im also unemployed despite having a national diploma means this is going to have a huge effect on my financials. for those who didnt read the newspaper yesterday SANRAL is now threatening to raise the fee from 30c to R1.75 for people who dont register in time for the launch on the 30th of this month. there was also talk about giving the e toll officials powers similar to those of the metro police. what i would like to know is with the rise in petrol costs, where is the levy we all pay on our petrol going? surely that is already a large enough fund to use for road repairs without the e toll fees which are really going to affect people with low income and will definately have an enormous impact on the price of food and other consumables. the fact that most of the profits from e tolling are going overseas i dont see how this system is going to benefit Guateng. a large bakery that supplies bread to all major chains have told their drivers to find alternative routes for their deliveries as any e tolling cost will be paid for out of the drivers salary, they also want to make their salary subject to how many deliveries the drivers do so these poor men not only have to use alternative probably longer routes to do their deliveries which will decrease the amount of deliveries they can do in a day, if they use the tolled highways they will also lose some of their salary which they probably cant afford to lose. they are now literally stuck between a rock and a hard place. the bakery says it the only way they can keep the cost of bread low since there are now so many costs. i know that SANRAL is trying to force us to use public transport but in all honesty we have atrotious public transport services and theres no way im climbing into a minibus taxi what with their steller driving manner and roadworthyness. so what is my other option, there is no rapid transit bus routes from where i stay to where im at college and private taxi are far too expensive to use. seeing as the ones responsible for this e tolling proposal didnt do enough public awareness and public participation i dont see why we have to be responsible for the massive debt they have incured through their incompetance and short sightedness. as far as im concerned they should be the ones who pay off the debt out of their own pockets as i have no doubt that they would be benefiting in some financial way should this be implemented. i havnt bought my e toll device nor have I registered, i will not be doing so until i have literally no other option but to comply. i would love to ask the people incharge how they expect me to pay for all of this when i am still living with my parents and have no prospect for employment anytime soon. i would also like to know why so much of the profits are being sent overseas and how they can think this will benefit our country. for once i completely agree with COSATU, i never thought i would use those words ;-) B
And to top this all off if they had done enough research into the matter they would have figured out that by adding another 10c to each litre of fuel they would be making more money, GP would not be the only ones paying off their huge financial losses due to stupidity, people would accept it much easier and the cost of having an office with 2 to 3 accountants at each and every major Fuel distributor and a head office with 50ish staff would cost them a fraction of one of those ridiculous bridges per year. They say the reason for not doing this in the first place is coz that would then go to the Countries total revenue and from there it would be to much effort to get the money out and back into the hands of SANRAL. What a pathetic excuse. On the side of not getting an E-Tag you could get ripped off viciously. 20% of South African vehicle Registration plates are fake, copied or stolen and with no system in place to refund you they just don't care it's your problem for not having an E-tag even if you don't even live in GP.
All they will achieve in the end is over congested side roads and empty highways. So they will be wasting even more money paying Metro to keep peace on the side roads. Trying to force an already fed-up 10% of tax paying ppl to pay some more is not a good idea. At the end 10% of us tax paying ppl is already giving 50% of our money away to the Gov and at some point this will come down on them. I personally think this is all a legal way to redistribute wealth without having to work for it.
You guys have my sympathy. Once again we are getting screwed. Hopefully they see this as a failure and dont try it elsewhere.
LOL Don't think you are safe from this... This will effect the whole country considering how much of your food supplies have to travel from the north through every single one of these gates. Also GP is step one in their plans to cover all National roads with the Tolling systems
I got the figure of a thing the DA posted on their Toll Free GP Facebook page lol, and it is sure to get much worse now
will this mean that the fish at pet stop will get more expensive???? all us joeys people better make the trip to stock up there before teh end of the month b4 the toll kicks in for the route to pretoria!!
Please do not take this post as support of the Etoll or the government at all... I disagree with the E-toll system in it's entirity, but let's not ignore the facts in our face: IF you buy the E-Tag, your rates are 50% of normal rates, but the monthly amount is CAPPED at R550.00 per month. If you DON'T by the E-Tag, you pay 100% of rate, and there's no cap. So guys, if you use the highway everyday like I do.. please be wise. Your "stand" against the E-tag by not buying it may cost you more in the long run! i read an article recently in the papers and SANRAL have applied to make the E-Tag a REQUIREMENT for all GP residents with a vehicle licence. Apparently it's been approved in the first 2 stages of government. The DA and their Anti-Toll shananegans have landed them up in court. But I still don't have an E-tag, and until they officially start Tolling, I don't plan on getting one.
it's a "You damned if you do, and damned if you don't" situation. You need to decide how damned you wanna be.
i'll wait and see how far the DA and co get with the courts then i'll see but not a day before its absolutely necessary and then still will avoid any freeway i have to pay twice to use.and then will probably still get billed because government systems work so well they charge you for services not rendered like the billing crisis.expect there to be lots of R550 cappeds even though you used the freeway once then get told pay first we'll sort it out later.
What a mess... I am also against this uneducated decision by our so called leaders... And I never see a highway unless I go to JHB for something which is like 5 time a year. I am just in protest coz it's not right this will not cost me any money for now...
I will not get a tag under any circumstances. I have already found a route to work that will not involve any tolls. I will use any secondary roads to go anywhere else. If i absolutely have to use the highways, it will be kept to a minimum. Then if they want their money, they can come and look for me for it. How dare they squander our tax money on stupid things like parties, and road name changes - and then come and make us pay for these stupid things they do without consultation. They're still busy on roadworks FFS. Today in Fourways / Bryanston - it took me over 45 minutes to travel 2 kms. Think of the filling &*!# up. I can just imagine the e-tolls going the same way. You'll receive a bill for R20 000 then they'll tell you to pay it first and then they'll sort it out. I think not. Let's stop letting this government screw us over.
Everything that gets transported by road will go up, spar and chechers do their own transport, the guy on the street who iss allready living thinly stretched as is will not make it if his food bill goes up, this June will be a nightmare with strikes if you are involved in the MEIBC. Use a Taxi no ways, saw one rolled yesterday on the N1south bodies lying beside it. Sent from my GT-P7500 using Tapatalk
