The newly appointed transport minister must put an end to the highly contested e-tolling project, the DA said on Wednesday.
The party’s provincial leader John Moodey said Dipuo Peters’s immediate predecessors, Ben Martins and Sbu Ndebele, had relentlessly pushed through the tolls despite widespread concern.
“The Democratic Alliance in Gauteng calls on the new transport minister … to ditch the controversial e-tolling … minister Peters must take this opportunity and heed the public outcry and warning signs around the unworkable project,” Moodey said in a statement.
He planned to write to Peters on Wednesday to request she urgently review the e-tolls and address concerns about the project’s transparency and its real beneficiaries.
On Tuesday, president Jacob Zuma swapped the portfolios of the transport and energy ministers in a cabinet reshuffle that left three ministers without a job.
Peters was given the post of transport minister and Ben Martins would be energy minister.
Dina Pule, Tokyo Sexwale, and Richard Baloyi were removed from the national executive in Zuma’s fourth reshuffle since 2010.
Yunus Carrim replaced Pule as communications minister, Connie September took over from Sexwale as human settlements minister, and Lechesa Tsenoli replaced Richard Baloyi as co-operative governance minister. — Sapa