donorfatigued Feb 22, 2012

I see we are now being barraged with propaganda to try to make us believe that the tolls are a 'good thing' for this country and that we should not resist them!

No Sir - these tolls must be scrapped in their entirety and the gantries torn down - whether that tearing down should happen in an orderly way or otherwise!

As law-abiding citizens we have every right to vehemently protest this imposition, which will have the effect of driving up prices of everything (incl. fuel!) and in fact of making life impossible for many who have no alternative but to use the highways to make their living.

Our effective protest action is simple and involves no risk - simply boycott e-tags, the contract for which has already been declared declared unconstitutional and in breach of the CPA.

By doing so we will render the entire SANRAL business model financially unviable. They cannot possibly run their system except with our meek acquiescence in allowing them to bill us immediately and cheaply by electronic debits against our bank accounts.

The government consulted none of use when they decided to blow billions upgrading roads which did not need upgrading - let them find a better way to finance that mistake. Maybe sending fewer jets to shadow Zuma on his next overseas trips, or having fewer publicly-funded jollies might help!

The name 'Dick Turpin' comes to mind - he was a famous highwayaman, a robber who robbed innocent travellers on the roads of 18th century England - they hanged him by the neck until dead - let us hang this government sanctioned robbery by making sure their scheme is hanged!

I understand COSATU has a protest in the form of a stayaway or strike against the tolls scheduled for March 7th! This is what they have said:

"Tolling forces drivers to pay huge amounts of extra money just to travel on the province's highways. Workers will face having to pay out thousands or hundreds of extra rands every month just to travel to and from work. Consumers face massive price increases as a result of the extra cost of transporting goods to the shops being passed on to the shoppers.

We urge the cabinet to take note of the mass opposition to these tolls and instruct Sanral to abandon them for good. Meanwhile we continue to urge motorists not to register with Sanral or buy e-tags, and our members remain mobilised for a campaign of mass action if e-tolling is not scrapped. The federation calls upon government to prioritise the roll-out of efficient, reliable, affordable and safe public transport for all the people of South Africa."

DO NOT BUY AN E-TAG! - this is all that is required to collapse this iniquitous and rapacious scheme.