Thank you very much for protecting us, hon Deputy Speaker. It is ironic that this debate coincides with the Cosatu march that took place yesterday. The ANC-led government is sympathetic to the call by Cosatu. However, it is in the interests of the public that government build infrastructure - roads, in this case. It is important to note that the failure by the SA National Roads Agency Limited, Sanral, to pay its debt would have far-reaching consequences and could compromise all of us as road users. Once again, in the public interest, it is expedient that Parliament does its part in bettering the lives of the people by passing this Bill.
On behalf of many of our fellow South Africans, especially those living in Gauteng, we would like to express our appreciation to government for listening to the cries of our people that 66 cents per toll would have had a devastating effect on road users. As a result, public transport has been exempted. Our caring and responsive government intervened decisively to lower and cut the fees by half.
Government is a 100% shareholder of Sanral. Therefore if Sanral has made a financial commitment, the government must intervene and the credit rating would affect the rest of the country, not just Sanral. Roads are an important pillar of the economy. If there are no proper roads, there will be no economy. We cannot afford not to have good roads. However, the issue of affordability, which the public is raising, is important. As we have indicated above, the matter has been taken care of.
When the Minister tabled the Budget, he alluded to fluidity in the economy, caused by what is happening in Europe. This fluidity also has a negative impact on our country. We all know that government cannot afford to build all the roads at once. It is therefore necessary for government to partner with the private sector because it has limited resources. However, this government will continue to support the poorest of the poor.
I am sure that from now on we all understand that lessons were learnt from this process. In fact, the director-general highlighted this fact to the committee. The project should serve as a reference for future tolling. We therefore propose that this Bill be supported by this House. [Applause.]