Cape Town - Cabinet has denied that e-tolls in Gauteng will be scrapped following a statement by the province’s MEC for Transport, Jacob Mamabolo, during a radio interview on Thursday morning that a decision on the matter had been taken.
“We are waiting for that to be formalised but where we are there is no turning back on the e-tolls. The e-tolls are a thing of the past and we are waiting for that to be formalised or confirmed. They have been scrapped, the people of Gauteng should not be burdened with paying for national roads,” Mamabolo told SA FM.
He later said his comments on the matter were distorted.
Acting Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, who was briefing the media after the Cabinet meeting, said what Mamabolo said was not new as the provincial government in Gauteng has always lobbied national government to scrap e-tolls.
But as things stand the e-tolls will not be scrapped.
Ntshavheni said there was no Cabinet decision to scrap e-tolls.
He said the Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula continues to table various reports around e-tolls.
“What I can assure South Africans is that the Cabinet is considering possibilities of what should happen. Should e-tolls be scrapped or should e-tolls not be scrapped? What the MEC of Transport in Gauteng was communicating is the position of Gauteng, which is not new. Gauteng has always lobbied for the scrapping of e-tolls.
“They have lobbied national government for that and we continue to say what are permutations to enable that should that happen given the financial commitments that have been made with the Gauteng Road Improvement Programme,” said Ntshavheni.
“It’s not new what the MEC has tabled, but there is no decision at Cabinet as we speak today around the scrapping of e-tolls or non-scrapping of e-tolls,” said Ntshavheni.
She said Mbalula was continuing to engage with a number of stakeholders on the matter.
However, there was no decision on it.
Political Bureau