Article: Freeways are not free: Minister

Stalker said:
The best way to strike is not to use them. Lets really block up the alternate routes, which are already in such bad repair that they too will cost them more money to maintain.
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Till they start putting up tollgates on the side roads also! This country is starting to seriously make me depressed!
 
Stalker said:
The best way to strike is not to use them. Lets really block up the alternate routes, which are already in such bad repair that they too will cost them more money to maintain.
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That simply is not feasible. Apathy trumps activism in South Africa...
 
Mila said:
We should get The Village idiots plate. Copy it and had it out to everyone :D
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*thinks up an eeebel 'n cunning plan*

Memorise, write down, photograph, etc. the number plate of any taxi.

Go make yourself a set of plates.

Use said plates whenever you plan to use a freeway...
 
Ndebele said the "user-pay principle" was accepted throughout the world, but in South Africa people were willingly prepared to pay only in the telecommunications sector.
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Oh really... I didn't realise the 'User pays 5 times' was accepted
 
Dear Minister of Transport,

We the public entrust our tax money to the treasury for the running of the country. This job largely entails government making sure that our national infrastructure (meaning belonging to all of us as a nation) is in a functional state and operates at a level commensurate to the requirements of our country's economic performance of the day. For this to work you need to do planning for the future and also do forecasts as to where the country is going and what would be required of government come ten years or so down the line.

The treasury can afford to tackle infrastructure tasks that are too expensive and cumbersome to be funded by commercial private sector entities. Projects like dams would fall into this category. Another ambit of government would be roads. National roads and regional roads are your responsibility. Literally the arteries that provide the lifeblood of our country's economy namely the transportation of people and products from origins to destination. If you hamper this flow by lagging development or imposing too hefty a fee for accessing it, it will inadvertently affect the economy and drive up costs of things like labour and products.

As minister of transport you want to oil these roads with tax money to keep their perceived cost as close to zero as possible in order to keep the heartbeat of the economy regular and without restriction. Sure, we live in a country where the government is trying to take care of the poor and this means using treasury funds for projects other than the taxes they were intended for but I am here to urge you to lay off the road infrastructure maintenance and rollout money and use it where it is intended... for the benefit of the poor if nobody else!

Your portfolio as Minister of Transport is paid for with tax money. The people of this country is employing you in other words. We are your boss! Not the president, we the people. We expect a certain level of expertise, proficiency and effort from our ministers to do the best they can for the greatest good of the country. Tolling is not one of them, but on the off chance that you get away with a toll road here and there, the least we expect from you is to be less of a cocky arse about it!

Kind regards
Antowan
 
Overseas they tax the crap out of you but you do get a lot in return even if their governments are technically insolvent now... Our government is trying to emmulate them but not giving so much in return... The ANC is effectively outpricing themselves as a government worth tolerating... I suspect emmigration rates is picking up as we type....
 
antowan said:
Overseas they tax the crap out of you but you do get a lot in return even if their governments are technically insolvent now...
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They're starting to cut back heavily now though.
 
Mila said:
We should get The Village idiots plate. Copy it and had it out to everyone :D
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*From deep within the bowels of control room alpha* - "Eish. That Julius has been driving a LOT on these freeways lately, ne?" "Ya but bra where are all the reven-yoo generetahs?!"


MickeyD said:
*thinks up an eeebel 'n cunning plan*

Memorise, write down, photograph, etc. the number plate of any taxi.

Go make yourself a set of plates.

Use said plates whenever you plan to use a freeway...
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Then some poor, unsuspecting person is going to receive one almighty bill for all the mileage his venter trailor has racked up on the freeway! :D
 
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/09/revolving-license-plates-help-chinese-speeders/

R1000 each, excluding installation. How many should I order? :)

James Bond used them to elude Goldfinger's foot soldiers, but now revolving license plates have hit the open market in (where else?) China. Apparently over half of all speeders caught on camera in the south of the country get away scot-free by using false or occluded plates. A basic remote controlled plate switcher costs just 800 Yuan ($115), but more sophisticated gadgets that get the job done in just three seconds cost over twice that amount.
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I thought that is what car licenses and petrol taxes went towards? If not can the government kindly stop charging them?
 
**** you, Minister! **** you and the snake you rode in on! You and whoever cooked up this crap did not think it all the way through. Your road toll fees will create a whiplash that will make everything more expensive. Small businesses will battle, big businesses will at least feel it, and the common person will see even more of their hard-earned money vanish in some black hole, never to be seen again and to no noticeable effect whatsoever.

Without at least some form of flat rate fee for Gauteng residents and those who regularly use the freeways, this whole scheme is pure, unadulterated lunacy.
 
http://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2011/08/19/state-firm-on-gauteng-tolls

The government has lashed out at critics of the tolling of Gauteng highways, effectively accusing South Africans of being spoilt brats who spend their money on frivolities such as cellphone airtime.

Minister of Transport Sibusiso Ndebele and his energy counterpart, Dipuo Peters, came out with guns blazing against the public's resistance to the Gauteng tolls approved by the cabinet last week.

He said motorists had no option but to pay.

Peters said those rejecting the tolls were the worst of people who spent their money on "comforts" and not on essential services such as electricity.

"People buy cellphones, they pay for airtime, but when it comes to water, electricity and transport, people complain about the user-pays principle, knowing quite well that we need resources to maintain and operate this infrastructure," said Peters.
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But they user-pays principle does not apply to the taxis ?
 
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