For Whom the Toll Tolls?

So much said about tolling. With COSATU about to launch more anti toll action today I express some of my thoughts on the GFIP project and the associated tolling.

I need to start by saying that I am not inherently opposed to the concept of tolling. It embodies the principle of "user pays" thus providing a direct connection between the provision of a service or facility with the payment for that service or facility. The principle fits neatly into homogeneous societies where the capacity to pay and the need to use are similar for the entire population.

Things get more complicated in a hugely unequal society like South Africa where there are huge gaps between the haves, the barely haves and the have nots. The haves and the rest can claim equal need of the tolled roads. Their capacity to pay is hugely different and so their relative costs are vastly different. This difference supports that arguments of people like COSATU who say tolling is hugely discrimatory against the poor. I have to agree.

Before I look at other objections to tolling I want to explore things from a different persepctive. For this purpose let's start by assuming that tolling is an appropriate and equitable model for providing necessary infrastructure. Let's also assume that all the work that was done should have been done and the roads that are tolled should be tolled.

First question I want asked: Are we paying a fair price for the work that was done? In other words were the costs for the work appropriate and not inflated through industry collusion or to cover kickbacks and other perverse transactions.

The government and its agencies is, or should be, responsible to provide citizens of South Africa the best quality infrastructure at the best possible price.

This leads to the second question: Will the money to pay for the improvements be collected as efficiently as possible? In other words is the absolute minumum overhead cost incurred in collecting the money to pay for the roads.

In a nutshell:

- Did the responsible authorities exercise the necessary diligence to ensure that the appropriate infrastructure of the necessary quality was provided at the best possible cost?
- Did the responsible authorities exercise the necessary diligence to ensure that the most effective and efficient method was selected in order to recover the costs with the minimum impact on the citizens of South Africa?