Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has finally lived up to his promise of ending e-tolls in the province.
On Thursday, a joint media statement announced that the premier, working with Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana and Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga, had finally found a way to end the e-tolls that Gauteng road users had refused to pay for since they were established in 2013.
A proclamation in the Government Gazette, published on Thursday, was signed by the two ministers.
In a joint statement by the two ministries, Lesufi announced that after a meeting between the province and the two ministries on March 27, an agreement was reached to delink the province’s freeway improvement scheme e-tolls from the gantries.
“At the meeting held on 27 March 2024, between the minister of transport, Sindisiwe Chikunga, the minister of finance, Enoch Godongwana and the Gauteng Premier, Panyaza Lesufi, an agreement was reached to delink the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Scheme e-tolls from gantries on the 11th April 2024 at 11:59.
“This will effectively bring the urban e-tolling in Gauteng to an end. However, the ring roads that were part of the scheme shall remain the national roads,” the statement reads.
This comes after Lesufi, during his State of the Province address on February 19, announced plans to put an end to e-tolls. He promised that switching off the e-toll gantries would begin by no later than March 31.
Many people were sceptical about his promise as previous premiers had promised to do the same but had never done so.
Lesufi said a meeting of stakeholders had agreed to the de-commissioning of the e-tolls.
“We had a meeting with affected parties, including the ministers of finance and transport, and reached an agreement that by 31 March the formal process to switch off and de-link will begin and e-tolls will be history in our province,” he said.
Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse CEO Wayne Duvenage welcomed the decision after years sent agitating through the courts for the e-tolls to be scrapped.
“This is it,” he said. “It’s something to be celebrated.”
The parties to the memorandum of agreement have also indicated that funding solutions and debt repayment terms will soon be formalised.
“Parties agreed that the MOA would also regulate the financial and funding contributions towards the Sanral liability in compliance with the policy objectives and institutional framework for road infrastructure management in South Africa,” it said.
They said a process to re-purpose e-tolls infrastructure was under way.