The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) is in full support of the planned march by COSATU to SANRAL Offices on the 18th October 2014. SAMWU also welcomes the outcomes of the recent ANC Provincial Congress which resolved to oppose the e-tolling system. We are of the view that e-tolls will add to the burdens of the poor who are subjected to slave wages. This system further seeks to discriminate access to public roads on the basis of their economic situation. SAMWU considers this system as privatisation of public roads and as such we remain opposed to it. This is a system that is exploitative and expensive to maintain and will have dire consequences on Gauteng which is the economic hub of the continent. The COSATU Central Executive Committee has on many occasions been vocal about the federation’s vehement opposition to the e-toll system; congresses have taken resolutions to oppose any form of privatisation. It is our view that this system is a form of privatisation of public goods and should be discouraged and challenged. SANRAL has neglected to investigate other methods of repaying the debt which they incurred in the process of improving the roads, it has further failed to ensure that there are alternative usable routes which could be used as such subjecting people to this roads. SAMWU therefore reaffirms its support to the defiance against the e-tolls; we cannot allow ourselves to be subjected to this system which has been imposed on the people of Gauteng without consultation. SAMWU therefore calls on its members to join the march on the 18th October 2014, we urge all South Africans to come in their numbers to show their disgust and dissatisfaction with this system. We further urge South Africans to bring along with them their e-toll bills so they can be burnt on that day.
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 09:55:48 +0000