“People power has brought down governments in North Africa; it can surely stop this assault on our living standards.” Cosatu has shown it doesn’t mess around when it comes to voicing its opinion. But will the “mother of all protests” against e-tolls actually make any difference?

At the beginning of March, thousands upon thousands of people went on a nationwide strike in a protest organised by Cosatu in opposition to e-tolls and labour brokers.

Cosatu says it’s now mobilising its millions of members for the “mother of all protests”, scheduled for the e-tolls launch date – 30 April 2012.

Yesterday, Cosatu national spokesperson, Patrick Craven, said the e-toll saga was an “act of highway robbery”.

In a statement, he continued:

We are confident that we will be joined by many thousands more angry residents and motorists who support our demand for the scrapping of these tolls and the end to privatisation and commodification of our public services.

Having being forced to concede that buying an e-tag is not a legal requirement, they [Sanral] are now trying to bully and blackmail motorists into registering. We have been engaging with the African National Congress to reach agreement on alternative solutions to the funding of roads.

These talks are continuing and we shall strive right up to the last minute to have the tolls scrapped or at least postponed for a proper public debate.

Amid confusion about the new toll fees announced by Sanral for an “alternate user” – “one who does not have a valid and operational e-tag, and/or who is not registered with Sanral, and/or who is not a day-pass user”, Cosatu said it was ready to increase its effort to persuade motorists not to buy e-tags.

Sanral said the R1,75/km would apply only to defaulters or road users who refused to pay tolls within a seven-day grace period.

Craven said Cosatu was also ready to take legal action to obtain an interdict against the freeway tolls.

People power has brought down governments in North Africa; it can surely stop this assault on our living standards. Our aim is to make the tolls uncollectible and force the government and Sanral to find more equitable ways to pay for road improvements.

Will you pay, or will you laugh in the face of legislation?

[Source: BusinessDay]