Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      Wi-Fi or mobile? Tug-of-war over 6GHz intensifies

      25 June 2025

      War of words erupts over home affairs database fee hike

      24 June 2025

      Don’t expect Starlink in South Africa anytime soon

      24 June 2025

      Finally! Tribunal unpacks why it blocked Vodacom’s Vumatel deal

      24 June 2025

      Samsung to unveil new folding phones at July event

      24 June 2025
    • World

      Russia to launch state-backed rival to WhatsApp

      25 June 2025

      Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines hits $10-billion valuation

      24 June 2025

      Watch | Starship rocket explodes in setback to Musk’s Mars mission

      19 June 2025

      Trump Mobile dials into politics, profit and patriarchy

      17 June 2025

      Samsung plots health data hub to link users and doctors in real time

      17 June 2025
    • In-depth

      Meta bets $72-billion on AI – and investors love it

      17 June 2025

      MultiChoice may unbundle SuperSport from DStv

      12 June 2025

      Grok promised bias-free chat. Then came the edits

      2 June 2025

      Digital fortress: We go inside JB5, Teraco’s giant new AI-ready data centre

      30 May 2025

      Sam Altman and Jony Ive’s big bet to out-Apple Apple

      22 May 2025
    • TCS

      TechCentral Nexus S0E3: Behind Takealot’s revenue surge

      23 June 2025

      TCS | South Africa’s Sociable wants to make social media social again

      23 June 2025

      TCS+ | AfriGIS’s Helen Hulett on how tech can help resolve South Africa’s water crisis

      18 June 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E2: South Africa’s digital battlefield

      16 June 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E1: Starlink, BEE and a new leader at Vodacom

      8 June 2025
    • Opinion

      South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

      17 June 2025

      AI and the future of ICT distribution

      16 June 2025

      Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

      13 June 2025

      South Africa risks being left behind as stablecoins reshape global finance

      6 June 2025

      Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

      2 June 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CambriLearn
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SevenC
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » Motoring » E-tolls: The nettle government refuses to grasp

    E-tolls: The nettle government refuses to grasp

    By Roy Cokayne12 November 2021
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp

    Government has once again failed to make any pronouncement on the future of the controversial e-tolls scheme on the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP).

    This is despite transport minister Fikile Mbalula stating last month: “We expect that the minister of finance, when he delivers the medium-term budget policy statement in November 2021, will pronounce on the e-tolls. By that time, we believe cabinet would have finalised the matter,” he said.

    However, the 2021 MTBPS document only referred to policy uncertainty on government’s position on the user-pays principle.

    To date, R5.5-billion has been collected in toll revenue against an initial projection of R20.2-billion

    It said roads agency Sanral had incurred annual average losses of R2.5-billion since 2014/2015 and has been unable to successfully issue a bond since 2017, largely due to uncertainty about government’s position on the user-pays principle.

    The MTBPS said government has extended a total guarantee facility of R37.9-billion to the agency, of which R28.4-billion had been used by 31 March 2021.

    “While policy uncertainty remains, Sanral is still responsible for maintaining its toll portfolio and continues to service the debt used to fund construction. To date, R5.5-billion has been collected in toll revenue against an initial projection of R20.2-billion.

    “Without a policy decision that reinstates government support for the user-pays principle, Sanral will remain a significant burden on the public finances,” it said.

    ‘Hasn’t been easy’

    Mampho Modise, the deputy director-general responsible for public finance at national treasury, said on Thursday that they are still calculating the risks to the possible options for the future of e-tolls. “As you can imagine it hasn’t been easy to come up with a fair way of dealing with the e-tolls.

    “The issues there are very complicated and we as technocrats have submitted the different options that we think the politicians must consider but the discussions are still taking place (and hopefully the minister can give us an update when he has the press conference).

    “Once the minister is satisfied with the progress made, then he will certainly make an announcement. I’m not sure when he is going to do that. (We can ask him when we have the press briefing at 10am)  but we are in the final stages of finalising the proposals of how we continue or how we move forward in terms of the e-tolls,” she said.

    Transport minister Fikile Mbalula. Image: GCIS

    The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has estimated that only about 15% of motorists using the GFIP are now paying their e-toll accounts.

    The reference is the various options being considered to resolve the e-toll impasse follows President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2019 appointing Mbalula to head a task team to report on the options available for the future of e-tolls by August 2019.

    During his budget vote speech in May this year, Mbalula said he had presented nine possible solutions to the e-tolls impasse to the government and confirmed the first of these options is “to scrap the e-tolls”.

    Sanral CEO Skhumbuzo Macozoma in September this year called on the government to “bite the bullet” and take a decision on e-tolls and Gauteng MEC for Public and Roads Infrastructure Jacob Mamabolo reiterated in an interview that the official position of the Gauteng provincial government on e-tolls on the GFIP remains that they must be scrapped.

    Sanral CEO Skhumbuzo Macozoma in September this year called on the government to “bite the bullet” and take a decision on e-tolls

    Sanral’s annual report released last month revealed that revenue from the GFIP decreased by 31.5% to R207-million in the year to end-March 2021, from R452-million in the prior year.

    Sanral said this project is the only Sanral toll route that receives a government grant to offset the discounts on tariffs instituted in response to public opposition to tolling on Gauteng freeways.

    “In 2020/2021, this grant amounted to R2.7-billion, which includes R2.3-billion that the minister of transport, as Sanral’s sole shareholder, approved as a transfer from non-toll to toll operations to reduce the expected shortfall in collection of revenue,” it said.

    Sanral added that government has indicated and shown its preparedness to provide financial support to the GFIP e-tolls project while a solution is awaited.

    ‘Inevitable’

    It said the agency has therefore included a budgetary transfer of R3.25-billion, excluding VAT, per annum over the medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) ending in the 2022/2023 financial year to cover the shortfall on e-tolls.

    “Even though final approval of this additional transfer from parliament is still awaited, based on past experience, management concludes that it is inevitable that it will be granted to ensure that the entity does not default.

    “The material uncertainties on the future of GFIP as a going concern on its own are expected to be mitigated through direct government support and feasible sources of financing,” it said.

    It said gross toll debtors amounted to R9.8-billion, which was reduced by an accumulated expected lifetime loss allowance of R9.6-billion.

    Finance minister Enoch Godongwana

    Sanral said although the debt is not written off, the impairment reflects the expected losses and is assessed annually at the end of each reporting period.

    It added that the inability to resolve the GFIP e-tolls issue continues to place significant pressure on Sanral’s balance sheet, compromising the ability to source funding and exacerbating uncertainty regarding the future of road funding.

    • This article was originally published by Moneyweb and is republished by TechCentral with permission


    Enoch Godongwana Fikile Mbalula Outa Sanral Skhumbuzo Macozoma
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleSpotify eyes audiobook opportunity with new acquisition
    Next Article Eskom on track to split generation, transmission by end of 2021

    Related Posts

    Big boost for science, maths education in schools

    21 May 2025

    R10-billion in Post Office bailouts – what the money could have been used for instead

    14 May 2025

    VAT hike scrapped

    24 April 2025
    Company News

    Africa’s power industry bolsters digitalisation with Huawei

    25 June 2025

    Communication costs exploding? Telviva has a fix for UK-SA teams

    24 June 2025

    Section 18A deductions and BEE points – a strategic choice for business compliance in 2025

    24 June 2025
    Opinion

    South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

    17 June 2025

    AI and the future of ICT distribution

    16 June 2025

    Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

    13 June 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.