E-tolls: New AARTO documents shows that it cannot work

The Gauteng I want to build is a province of hope and prosperity. A place where people - especially young unemployed people - are given the opportunity to work so they can make a success of their lives.

There is no place for e-tolls in a DA-governed Gauteng. People don't want e-tolls. They are too expensive and people are already stretched financially. 

My pledge to the residents of this province is that, as Premier, I will do everything in my power to stop e-tolling in its tracks.

Not only are e-tolls unfair, they will not work. This much is clear in the documents I am releasing for the first time today, which were brought to the attention of DA Shadow Minister of Transport, Ian Ollis MP.

These documents relate to the implementation of the AARTO Act, which governs how municipal authorities adjudicate and collect traffic fines, in the City of Johannesburg and the City of Tshwane. Both these metros have been implementing the programme since 2008, and have made use of the same eNatIS system that will be used for e-tolling in the province. 

The Working Group report revealed that:

• In 2011/12 89,54% of required payments in terms of AARTO remained unpaid by road users; and that the figure was 87,56% in the 2012/13 financial year;
• The total amount that remains unpaid over these two years is R2,096 billion;
• The 50% discount which is applicable to payments made within 32 days are completely ignored and that people "simply prefer not to pay at all";
• The sending out of courtesy letters for payment was suspended in July 2012 because of a lack of funds. The total amount over these two years for the sending out these letters was more than R30 million;
• Only 0.58% of all required enforcement orders were distributed in 2011/12 and 2.4% in 2012/13.

The AARTO pilot project status report, dated 26 July 2013 also shows:

• The role players (City of Johannesburg and Tshwane) are not in a state of readiness to implement AARTO;
• Due to budget constraints, "there was a period that all Johannesburg AARTO infringement notices were sent by ordinary mail in direct conflict with Section 30(1)" and therefore illegal;
• JMPD has had "wasteful" expenditure of approximately R60m up to the end of June 2013 as the 2.4 million cases mailed out are outside the timeframes in terms of the AARTO Act and regulations;
• The compliance figure or payment rate of infringement notices has dropped to less than 5% and is as low as 1%;
• If it is not adequately addressed before the end of July 2013, "the Johannesburg Metro Police Department will be required to stop all law enforcement or to revert back to the illegal process of sending out infringement notices by normal mail".

These revelations indicate clearly that the means to collect and enforce fines in Gauteng simply does not exist, and that implementation of e-tolls is therefore doomed to fail. 

It also worryingly shows that traffic law enforcement on roads in our big cities in Gauteng is on the brink of collapse. This will have a devastating effect on efforts to reduce the number of lives lost on our roads if not urgently addressed.

Drastic action is required to protect the people of Gauteng. We cannot allow people to suffer because the Gauteng government and the Transport Minister will not admit what a monumental mistake they have made by pushing ahead with AARTO.

If I am elected as Premier, I will take a stand in defence of the people of Gauteng by:

• Pushing for the powers of the RTMC to be transferred to the province and metro's where they belong to effectively administer road safety; 
• Supporting the repeal of the AARTO Act in Parliament;
• Using all means at the Provincial Government's disposal to stop e-tolls;
• Improving or upgrading alternative routes to the toll roads
• Make funding available for the rollout of 24 hour traffic police on our freeways to improve road safety.

I am prepared to fight this fight with the people of Gauteng behind me.

Statement issued by Mmusi Maimane, DA Premier Candidate for Gauteng, August 28 2013

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