Today is an important day because it’s the day our President gives his state of the nation address. It should be an interesting one and I heard there may even be autographed heaven cards for sale afterwards. It’s therefore important to highlight some issues our Jozi brethren currently face and ask whether they are getting a fair deal.

It’s no big secret that our friends from further north have long since battled the potholed business hub of Africa they refer to as Sandton. Luckily, most have expensive all terrain vehicles, with mud stickers, that are adept at negotiating the giant problem. But, one has to ask why nothing ever seems to improve, over years and years, ever.

It’s also emerging that if you live in an area where an MP feels like living, your pothole problem almost immediately disappears.

Then there is the constant rain. Local councils don’t seem to like cleaning drains anymore either which thus results in flooding of epic proportions, regularly. How fun.

Next comes the disastrous local council billing saga that doesn’t want to go away. And if you haven’t heard about it then it might seem like a rather large joke to you but one old pensioner really did get a water bill that ran into the millions. Basically, the awesome spreadsheet Jozi metro bought to do its work for it for a large sum is kak.

As if all of this wasn’t enough, the new toll road billing system also kicks in at the beginning of June. Great big concrete structures have been very quickly and expensively constructed over many of the main traffic routes around the city to electronically charge a new toll fee. At the beginning of this week the AA jumped in to condemn the new system and now trade union Solidarity has had a go too.

Solidarity notes the important bits though and spokesperson Ilze Nieuwoudt had this to say: “Toll roads are nothing more than an inventive means of imposing tax, and the implementation of the planned toll system will overburden consumers.”

Her point is that “Road users already paid around R2.47 per litre of petrol for various forms of tax, of which R1.67 was the fuel levy.” And now they must fork out a further 49,5c/km – R2,97/km depending on the size and nature of the vehicle.

Unfortunately there is probably no way to stop the new tolling system so all I can do is offer a few solutions for the time being. Take the bus – Jozi metro busses are really like London busses, just branded differently. Don’t be afraid. There are even security guards on the bus. We use our busses here in Cape Town all the time. Oh, there’s a goody – move to Cape Town.

And lastly, look at what councils work in this country and spread their news. Vote for them.

[Source: Finance24]