Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has said that freeway users who paid their e-toll bills will be refunded.on 702 talk radio, Lesufi said that they faced several tough decisions that contributed to the delay.
Lesufi said that most of those who paid — around 37% — are businesses like car hire and transport companies.He said R6.9 billion must be refunded. Gauteng must still decide whether refunds will be cash, or a credit that may be used to pay other road tolls. “We don’t want to commit the same mistake that we had with e-tolls of imposing a transaction without consulting people,” Lesufi said.Lesufi said they were negotiating more lenient repayment terms, as Gauteng would prefer to repay the debt over 20 years rather than five.As for the formal scrapping of e-tolls, Lesufi explained there was a legal process that needed to be undone.
“However, the GFIP debt remains inexplicably high, as National Treasury said this was R43.031 billion in March 2022.”It also revealed that the roads agency has R41.2 billion available in cash from unspent government grants and payments from concession contracts.
This is an election stunt by Lesufi. The debt needs to be serviced first. Debt that appears to be heavily inflated if you follow OUTASA line of questions put to Sanral. What money will be left? Hard to imagine any…