Panyaza Lesufi says e-tolls will soon be history

Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi says the process to switch off e-tolls in Gauteng will begin by the end of March.

“We have reached a stage where we accept [that] the people of Gauteng have rejected e-tolls,” Lesufi said in his 2024 state of the province address on Monday.

Over the past few years, government has indicated several dates and deadlines for the scheme to be scrapped and missed them all.

Finance minister Enoch Godongwana announced in October 2022 that a new financing mechanism for the Gauteng freeway upgrade debt will replace the failed toll scheme, which has been boycotted by most motorists. About 10%-12% of road users in Gauteng are paying for e-tolls, according to the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa).

The national government agreed to pay 70% of the outstanding R47bn debt and the Gauteng government 30%.

Scrapping the scheme requires declaring that Gauteng freeways are no longer tollways in a gazetted notice by the department of transport. In January 2023 Lesufi said he hoped this would be finalised within weeks, but the gantries are still operational more than a year later and motorists are still being billed.

In October 2023 Godongwana said e-tolls would be stopped after an agreement was signed between the Gauteng government and national government.

On Monday Lesufi said: “When I addressed this house I declared e-tolls are history. We had a meeting with affected parties, including the ministers of finance and transport, and [we] have reached an agreement that by March 31 the formal process to switch off and de-link will begin and e-tolls will be history in our province,” he said, adding that the finance minister will elaborate.

Lesufi did not say whether motorists who paid e-tolls would be refunded, as he promised in January 2023 when he said R6.9bn would be refunded to the 17% of Gauteng drivers who have been paying e-tolls.

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