President Cyril Ramaphosa has taken charge of Gauteng’s e-toll headache, bringing hope that the impasse between motorists and the provincial government could soon be resolved. In November 2017, motorists in the province owed R9.2bn. Motorists claim the funding model was not adequately canvassed and the levy will further impoverish poor workers. Gauteng Premier David Makhura in February conceded that the highly contested e-tolls system was a failure. He said a new model was needed to fund road development. This followed years of resistance to the multibillion-rand e-tolls project by civil organisations and motorists. This is the second time Ramaphosa has taken charge of the crisis. In 2015 he was asked to intervene in the nonpayment saga. But his efforts did not yield much, as motorists and civic organisations continued to resist payment. "The new dawn [of the Ramaphosa-led government] must also bring a solution to the protracted and unresolved problem of e-tolls," Makhura said durin...

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