The e-toll price hikes South Africans will be paying from this week
Motorists using Gauteng’s major roads will pay for more e-tolls from this week in line with general toll increases announced by the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral).
The tariffs are adjusted annually in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as obtained from Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). The CPI percentage that was applied to determine the new tariffs is 5%, as published in the Government Gazettes of 11 February 2022, the agency said.
Since 3 December 2013, motorists have been tolled for using the seven urban freeways which make up the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP), which are mainly in Johannesburg and Tshwane.
However, the scheme has proven deeply unpopular with motorists, resulting in growing non-compliance as users refuse to pay the fees.
Commenting on the increases, the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) said the hikes are evidence that the controversial e-toll scheme is here to stay.
“This is extremely disappointing as it means that for at least the last five years the people of Gauteng have been lied to about e-Tolls. “Every year since 2018, the Minister of Transport, Premier David Makhura and MEC for Roads and Transport have been promising that e-Tolls will be scrapped.
“This has come to naught and our residents continue to get e-Toll bills which they cannot afford to pay. Our residents already have a tight budget and e-Tolls is just an extra burden on them.”
The DA maintains that e-Tolls have no place in Gauteng and they should be scrapped immediately.
No decision made yet
The government has still not made an official decision on the future of e-tolls, with the discussion still ongoing, says finance minister Enoch Godongwana.
In a post-budget briefing to parliament on Thursday (24 February), Godongwana said the National Treasury’s latest calculations show that an additional 74 cents would need to be added to the current fuel price to pay for the scheme.
Godongwana added that a petrol price hike to fund e-tolls was a ‘blunt instrument’ that would ultimately be carried by already cash-strapped consumers.
Instead, the finance minister said the government was weighing other options to address e-tolls debt. While a final decision is yet to be made, Godongwana said it was his ‘considered opinion’ that the user-pays principle would be retained in some form.
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