Government tries to spin OUTA’s position on e-tolling
Parliaments portfolio committee on transport has been accused of trying to ‘spin’ OUTA’s (Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance) stand on urban e-tolling.
A statement was issued on Tuesday after a presentation by OUTA, in which the committee stated that OUTA was not directly opposed to e-tolling. Further adding, that because people want good roads and infrastructure throughout the country, they will need to pay for this somehow.
However, the chairman of OUTA, Wayne Duvenage, said “This is blatant spin and the government are misinforming the public in this statement.”
Adding that,
“It is a complete fabrication of the points I put forward. I made it clear that we are not opposed to the fact that all infrastructure must ultimately be paid for by society and they have ‘spun’ this into statements that say we are now for e-tolls.”
Duvenage stressted that OUTA was advocating for paying for infrastructure through efficient means, such as taxation and fuel levies. Claiming that the e-toll mechanism has only failed in the past and that it was inefficient.
“It has therefore failed as a user-pays scheme,” he said.
Duvenage said the government’s resistance to paying for the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Program (GFIP), through an increase in the fuel levy was “hypocritical”. The government’s justification was that it hurt the poor more, however the fuel levy has increased by 92% since the construction started on t he GFIP in 2008.
OUTA has only urged the government to halt the e-toll scheme.
Source: IOL