By Blessing Vava
 |
| Minister of Transport- Obert Mpofu |
The Herald of 5 July 2014
reported that the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development Obert Mpofu
made amendments to the Toll Roads (Regional Trunk Road Network) Amendment Regulations
of 2010 to effect an increase on tollgates. The report follows a Statutory Instrument published in the
Government Gazette by Government. The increase,
the first since tollgates were
introduced in 2009 will see minibuses paying US$3, up from US$2. Buses will now
be required to pay US$4, up from US$3, while heavy vehicles will pay US$5, up
from US$4.
The increase itself is
irrational, unreasonable and cannot be justified considering that not much
maintenance has been done on all the countries major roads. Zimbabwe’s major
roads have remained death traps with accidents because of minimum road
maintenance despite the millions already being collected through tollgates. Already
the money being collected from the tollgates cannot be justified or accounted
for properly. Though the government needs resources to institute improvements
on our major highways, this should however not be a justification to increase
the tollgate fees by 100%. Instead, there should be other efficient means to
collect these “taxes’’ to improve our roads. Raising funds for national road
rehabilitation projects of this nature should be done with the least negative
impact on the pockets of the public, whilst achieving the goal of funding the
infrastructure.
The tollgate increase has
indeed exposed the government’s arrogance in public engagement by introducing a
policy of this nature. It should be the responsibility of every government to
engage stakeholders on matters of policy that affect its citizens. While
Minister Mpofu and ZINARA will try to justify and have us believe that this
decision was arrived at through a consultative process, the simple truth is,
they as a Ministry have failed and fell far short of what would be expected in
a matter of this magnitude. This is validated by the outrage and surprise
motorists expressed when the announcements of the toll increase were made. This
did not only shock the individual road users, but business community as well.
In fact it was totally wrong
and unacceptable, in the first place, for government to charge people to use
existing roads. This is a form of privatisation of an existing public asset, our
roads, which should be a public service paid for through taxation and not a
commodity for sale to those with money. There should be a transparent
discussion on why there has been a sudden increase. The increase will obviously
affect the poor as this will also lead to the increase in the fares of public
transport, thereby piling on the burden to the already suffering citizens. Poor
consumers will also be hit by the inevitable higher prices in the shops as
haulage firms pass on the cost of the tolls to the retailers, who will then
pass this on to their customers.
The move by Mpofu should not go unchallenged,
it is a call to the trade unions, motorists, public transport associations, social movements, and community groupings to
organise themselves and resist this illegal move. It should basically be a campaign against the
commodification of the highways. Equally, that campaign should speak to the
broader demands for accessible, affordable and safe public transport
system. Whilst there is absolutely no
doubt that even if one does not necessarily use the roads a good road
infrastructure will be of great benefit to the country as a whole, but the
burden should not entirely lie on the public but equally the national treasury
needs to be an important contributor to the funding of roads.
The announcement by Minister
Mpofu that less than $40 million is collected from tollgates annually is rather
an under estimate, the government should disclose or share with the public the
expenses needed so that it gives us a fairly accurate account of the tollgate
costs and road rehabilitation.
Understanding the logic and
issues above, the toll increase is fundamentally flawed and should be
challenged even legally. It is most certainly not in the best interests of the
citizen and works against the ultimate role that Government ought to play –
i.e. to enhance the wellbeing of its citizens.
Blessing Vuvuzela Vava is a
social commentator. He writes from Chipinge and can be contacted on
blessingvava@gmail.com
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