A revolt over South Africa’s roads

It doesn’t toll for thee

A road-tolling scheme conjures up people power

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Readers' comments


PPP Lusofonia

Willingness to pay tolls has some to do with tradition, but most to do with better quality roads and avoiding congestion on non-tolled roads. .


A few things went wrong with this project from the beginning: SA used to have a fuel levy to cover construction and maintenance of all roads. It was during the time period of that fuel levy that SA built its impressive road network. Where the fuel levy was not enough, a "top up toll" was introduced (I believe on the N4 platinum highway). The past government (or regime) later removed the connection between fuel levy and road infrastructure, placing the fuel levy directly into the main tax collection pot. This has to be the biggest mistake, and many governments around the world make this same mistake (including our government in Ontario).

The highway network was then segmented from the entire road network and placed under the care of a newly established company called SANRAL who was to make revenue from tolling the road network where they could. Thus we saw tolling of the N1, N3 and N4 (eastern section). But again that was not enough.
By raising the fuel levy, they are making the entire country pay for the Johannesburg road issue.

Ironically enough, tolling of the highways around Johannesburg may also become the ultimate litmus test of the governing power and racial politics in SA. By enlarge, the white population carry most of the tax burden of the country and any additional tax/tariff burden placed on the white population has been relatively easy for a government that has been voted into power by a black majority. The perverse logic on the tolling system has followed the simple concept: white people are the majority of car owners, they must pay. When the tolling affected the minibus-taxi industry which is run by black people, the instant reaction of the government was to exempt minibus-taxis thus making it more of a 'white-burden'. The biggest miss-calculation by the government is that there is a significant amount, and a growing number, of black people driving cars thus this issue is not purely a taxation on white people.

During the study into the tolling system, I noted that a toll acceptance study was not undertaken. I asked SANRAL if they were not afraid of a Canadian style toll rejection (Moncton Highway). SANRAL stated that the government is not worried about political fall-out as the primary road users are not their voting base. Also,what choice do drivers have?

Well SANRAL, the second part of that question has been answered, the question now is whether drivers will keep up the defiant pressure or simply buckle over time.

My personal belief is that those well lit gantries are soon to be vandalised.

guest-ismoenl in reply to Plen

Ah the ignorant at it again! to quote the 19th century French liberal Frederic Bastiat who called the state "the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else". The suggestiona made are truly a case of living of others. Shakespeare in "As you Like IT" puts it well.
"Sweep on, you fat and greasy citizens. 'Tis the fashion.Wherefore do you look. Upon that poor and broken bankrupt there?"


This is very similar to the Lekki toll gate issue in Lagos, Nigeria. Even though the policy has been suspended indefinitely, I believe it will be resurrected and implemented once people relax on the protests. This is exactly how it ended in the Lekki case.


The initial R5 billion bail-out was funded by increasing the fuel levy. Why don't we use existing tax structures to pay for the remainder of the debt?

Introducing a high-tech e-tolling system is clearly not the answer as a significant amount of revenue received goes towards maintaining the high-tech system as opposed to maintaining the roads.



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