The Organisation Undoing Tax (Outa) has called for transparency and clarity on the cross-departmental movement of money regarding the Gauteng freeway debt.
This comes after the South African National Roads Agency SOC Limited (Sanral) welcomed the first instalment made by the Gauteng Provincial Government towards its e-toll debt earlier this week.
Gauteng MEC for Finance and Economic Development, Lebogang Maile announced last week the provincial government would be paying its first instalment towards the R20 billion for the scrapped e-toll debt it owed Sanral.
The provincial government will be paying R12 billion on the actual debt, R4 billion on the interest incurred, and R4 billion on maintenance.
The first instalment paid was said to be R3 billion.
Outa CEO, Wayne Duvenage said the organisation was aware of the receipt of the first payment to Sanral but was disappointed that the Gauteng Provincial Government allowed itself to be roped into settling any of the Gauteng Freeway Upgrade construction debt in the first place.
“These bonds were entered into by Sanral (a national entity) and the bonds were guaranteed by Treasury. The Gauteng province had nothing to do with these agreements and it was never their debt to settle in the first place,” Duvenage said.
He said this payment came at a time when there were significant financial constraints and shortfalls within the province which stretched in meeting its needs to serve the residents, including its long-term funding requirements to upgrade the provincial freeway network.
“It now means that there is less money available to service the dire shortages of spending in hospitals, schools and social services within the province,” Duvenage said.
Outa said its concern, as stated on many occasions, is the lack of clarity about this payment by the provincial government to Sanral.
“Firstly, this 30% of Sanral GFIP debt amounted to roughly R12 billion. Then suddenly we learnt of another R4.1 billion payment to Sanral's freeway maintenance costs. What on earth is a province paying for maintenance on an asset that is not on their books? Which accounting principles are being applied in these transactions?
“Now recently we hear the amount that the Gauteng Province will be paying has gone up to R20 billion, which means another R3 billion has been causally thrown into the mix. There is no clarity on what is going on here. We require absolute transparency and clarity on this cross-departmental movement of money regarding the Gauteng freeway debt and hope that the auditor-general will be looking into this matter,” Duvenage said.
Outa called on the Gauteng Provincial Government to prioritise finding sustainable and equitable solutions for funding road infrastructure without placing an unjustified financial burden on its residents.
“In addition, they must explain to us why road infrastructure projects like the M5-Beyers Naude road has been abandoned for well over a year, and who has been paid for the work done thus far. This indicates that this Provincial Government lack governance, oversight and professionalism when it comes to serving the residents of Gauteng,” Duvenage added.