Cosatu marches against e-tolling

A march and motorcade will start at 07h30 from the old Putco bus depot in Marabastad and will continue on to the N4, N1 and R21 highways.

A motorcade will occupy Gauteng highways in protest of e-tolling today.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will kick-off its campaign of mass action against e-tolling this morning.

In the first of two planned mass protests, the trade federation will occupy the highways in another drive-slow protest.

A march and motorcade will start at 07h30 from the old Putco bus depot in Marabastad and will  continue on to the N4 Highway to the N1 off-ramp, where it will move on to the N1 towards Johannesburg, then at the R21 off-ramp move on to the R21 towards Johannesburg. The motorcade will return to Pretoria through Nelmapius and end at the Putco bus depot in Marabastad.

Cosatu has repeatedly called for the scrapping of e-tolling and noted it would continue to occupy the highways through mass demonstrations as long as government continues to push for the implementation of e-tolling.

While the trade federation continues to call for the scrapping of e-tolling, government however, has maintained that the user-pay principle has been accepted by Gauteng motorists. It has also dismissed Cosatu’s march saying that e-tolling will be introduced on provincial roads.

In October, government gazetted revised e-tolling tariffs. Light motor vehicles (class A2) with an e-tag can expect to pay 30c/km with the base rate for unregistered motorists set at 58c/km. Motorcycles with an e-tag can expect to pay 18c/km, while medium heavy vehicles will pay 75c/km.

Registered public transport operators and users will not pay a cent – a measure introduced to exempt the poor from paying.

Government has also proposed that toll fees for e-tag users be capped at R550 a month for light vehicles. Monthly toll caps for e-tag registered heavy vehicle users are also introduced.