Tolling victory a triumph for Western Cape public

30 September 2015

The Western Cape High Court’s decision today to set aside SANRAL’s unlawful decision to toll the N1 and N2 in the province, is an enormous victory for the DA-led City of Cape Town and all the people of the province.

We stood up against the national government and against SANRAL and stated loud and clear that what happened in Gauteng, will not happen in the Western Cape. And today our victory belongs to the poor people of the Western Cape.

In its review application, the City argued that the decision years ago to declare the highways as toll roads was unlawful and that tolling would have a damaging impact on our city and regional economy. The City also argued that the people of the Western Cape were never properly consulted and that the tolling of the roads would have been unconstitutional.

The victory today is a victory for all of us, but especially the poorest in our communities. We believe that tolling would have further impoverished our communities and would deprive the people of this province of a fundamental freedom: the freedom to move and to seek opportunities.

In the DA, we believe in a society where freedom, fairness and opportunities prevail and we will continue unabated to challenge the national government or any government agency that disregards the rights of our people.

Today the people of the Western Cape have won against the national government's oppressive ways.

Statement issued by Patricia de Lille, DA Western Cape leader, 30 September 2015