A convoy, led by Cosatu members, began their trip from Johannesburg to the SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) offices in Pretoria on Saturday in protest against the e-toll system.<\/p>\n
About 50 vehicles, including motorcycles and minibus taxis, were cheered on by onlookers as they made their way through the streets of Johannesburg before reaching the M1 highway.<\/p>\n
Metro police diverted traffic from the convoy’s route.<\/p>\n
A bakkie at the front of the convoy carried members of the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu), who bore aloft a wooden coffin with the words “RIP e-tolls” attached to it.<\/p>\n
Some of the signs attached to the other vehicles read: “Stop privatization, open national roads,” and “We will not buy e-tolls.”<\/p>\n
Cosatu announced on Thursday that it would stage a drive-slow protest to Sanral’s offices.<\/p>\n
“We are going to hand over a memorandum to the Sanral offices… including burning of the e-tags and the bills which had been received by our people,” Cosatu Gauteng secretary Dumisani Dakile said at the time.<\/p>\n
He accused Sanral of abusing more than R20 billion on upgrading the province’s highways without consulting citizens.<\/p>\n
He suggested Sanral was “selling our public roads to the highest bidder and to monopoly capital without caring about our country and its people.”<\/p>\n
Pay your e-tolls, it\u2019s the law: ANC<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n