Parliamentary Public Hearings on E-Toll Amendment Bill
COSATU condemns in the strongest possible manner Parliament's determination to rush through the Transport Laws and Related Matters Amendment Bill at all costs.
Parliament's Transport Committee is mandated by the public to provide real, meaningful and effective oversight. Yet it has unashamedly reduced its public hearings on this E-Toll Bill into a complete sham.
The Committee advertised for public comments on the Bill on the 4th of November and closed submissions on the 12th. On the 16th it decided to hold public hearings a week early and brought them forward to the 20th. On the 19th it decided that the Bill will be voted upon and in reality passed by the National Assembly on the 22nd.
In other words the Committee decided one day before the public hearings, before they had even read or heard the written and oral submissions on such a sensitive and critical matter, that they will adopt Bill without any changes at the same meeting where they will receive public comments for the first time. They further decided that the National Assembly will then adopt the Bill a mere 2 days later.
No real oversight can be exercised or changes can be made to a Bill in such a ridiculously short space of time. It has reduced the entire process of public participation to nothing less than a sham.
The Bill will have major financial and economic impacts upon the Provinces, yet Parliament has refused to allow the NCOP to participate in this process as required by the Constitution and as is the norm.
Parliament is rushing the Bill through, as it is needed by Government in order for E-Tolling to commence in Gauteng. It is clear that E-Tolling will start within a matter of weeks.
All the public consultation processes have clearly been intended to give a false pretence of listening to the public but not to act upon their concerns or objections.
COSATU remains vehemently opposed to this Bill. It is nothing less than the privatisation of public roads that belong to the people. It is opening the door for an elite to grotesquely profiteer at the expense of an already impoverished public. It will do nothing to expand a woefully inadequate public transport system or alleviate traffic congestion.
This E-Toll Bill states unashamedly that E-Tolling to be expanded throughout South Africa. It will no longer just be about Gauteng. This is in direct contradiction to the public commitment given by the previous Minister for Transport that E-Tolling was a mistake, will only be done in Gauteng and will not be expanded to other provinces. It is clear now that soon roads throughout South Africa will no longer be a public right.
The Committee Chair saw fit to accuse COSATU of not representing the poor and stated that the poor do not use cars to get to work. In fact it is the poor will suffer when they are forced off these soon to be privatised roads and when inflation for food and other necessities increases. It is only the elite who would benefit from empty roads and profiteering off a public good.
E-Tolling will take us back to the days of segregation, when the rich have access to the best public services and the poor must simply pay or be forced off into poor quality ill equipped congested roads.
COSATU rejects the privatisation of public roads and calls upon Parliament to reject this Bill in its entirety.
COSATU will continue to fight this reckless form of privatisation that does nothing to help our people. Our actions will include a strike on the 30th of November. We expected better from our ANC led government.
Statement issued by Zwelinzima Vavi, COSATU General Secretary, November 21 2012
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