ANC’s top six split over e-tolls saga

Johannesburg – A City Press report yesterday said the e-tolls saga had split the top six of the African National Congress. Transport and Sanral officials have confirmed that Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe ordered them not to co-operate with Gauteng’s e-toll panel review, which his deputy Jessie Duarte supports.

Officials from the national transport department and roads agency Sanral confirmed last week they would not appear before the panel convened by Gauteng Premier David Makhura.

Sanral said it would not participate because all documents relating to how the project came about were publicly available.
However, City Press spoke to six leaders in government and the ANC and established that Sanral had been advised by Luthuli House – specifically Mantashe – not to participate in the process.

Gauteng ANC leaders say Mantashe’s deputy Jessie Duarte – a staunch opponent of e-tolls – is the one who gave Gauteng the green light to go ahead with the review, telling those close to her that she “would rather go to jail than pay e-tolls”.

“The instruction came from Luthuli House, from the SG [Mantashe]. The province cannot review national policy, so he told them it would be a waste of time to participate in this thing,” said an insider close to the process.

Asked if he had instructed Sanral not to appear before the panel, Mantashe said the entity did not report to him.
“How did I instruct them? Does Sanral report to me?” he asked.

He said his opinion on e-tolls was that the debate was narrow and focused only on payment when it should be about establishing an efficient transport system.

He also denied that he and Duarte were at odds over e-tolls, saying nameless people were spreading malicious gossip.
“It’s malice to say there is a war between me and Jessie because of e-tolls.”
He also said e-tolls were a Gauteng and not a Luthuli House problem.

Popular opinion is strongly weighted against e-tolls in the province, with 11 submissions to the panel opposing them and only one in favour.
A survey by the University of Johannesburg’s Institute for Transport and Logistics Studies (ITLS Africa) in March found that Gauteng motorists are not willing to pay e-tolls – even at a reduced rate.

Motorist ire was reflected at the polls, with the ANC in Gauteng recording its worst electoral support in May. The party obtained just 53 percent of the votes, down from 64 percent in 2009. Gauteng leaders attributed the decline to the introduction of e-tolls.

Gauteng government and ANC insiders insisted that the province consulted Luthuli House before going ahead with the review.
“We went to Luthuli House and Jessie told us to go ahead. She said she would rather go to jail than pay e-tolls,” said a source close to Makhura.
Duarte refused to comment when contacted: “I’m not interested in your dramatics or the lies people are telling you,” she said, before ending the call.

A provincial ANC official said the province was forced to act because e-tolls had cost them dearly at the polls. He said national government and Luthuli House were warned about the system but the province’s pleas fell on deaf ears. “You cannot just ignore this thing or bury your head deep in the sand. It had an impact on the elections and will still have an impact on future elections. It’s hitting the lower-income earners and the middle class. It’s hitting Africans, people in Soweto who work in Midrand and Sandton.

Can you ignore it as a party contesting the elections?” asked the member of the provincial ANC executive.
The Gauteng government, meanwhile, has clarified that this was not a review, but an impact assessment of the socio-economics of the e-tolling system. It set up a 15-member panel chaired by Professor Muxe Nkondo.- News24.