The hon Kganare predictably and opportunistically jumped onto the bandwagon of Cosatu's strikes tomorrow. You know, even the DA was invited by Cosatu here in the Western Cape to join the strike. Cope was not invited - shame! I understand why you feel so agitated about this matter. [Laughter.] What the hon member does not tell us is that this project, the e-tolling in Gauteng - which, we are the first to concede, is a problematic project - was pioneered by a Cope member. Is he still a Cope member? I am never sure about these things! It was Mbhazima Shilowa, during the time when he was the premier of the province. [Interjections.]
Now, in this administration, if we could rewind the clock - of course we can't, but if we could - we would certainly think three or four times about the advisability of proceeding with this very costly project, which does not have a strong developmental character to it. However, it is there - or part of it is there. We have spent R20 billion. We now have debt of R20 billion. What the hon member does not tell us is how we are going to deal with that debt. [Interjections.] What we have tried to do - I will now tell you how we are going to deal with it - is that we have listened to the public. We have reduced the e-tolling for light vehicles ... [Interjections.] ... from 60 cents to 30 cents. The Minister of Finance has put in a whopping R5,57 billion, which came out of the fiscus, to reduce the debt by more than a quarter. There is a R550 cap for e-tagged vehicles per month. There is time-of-day reduction for heavy vehicles to encourage them to use it off-peak. Public transport vehicles, buses and minibuses are totally exempted from any e-tolling.
Now what we are being told perpetually is that this is going to hit the poor. However, in a recent count of vehicles on the system only 2% of the vehicles were in fact minibuses and buses - in other words, transport that is used by the working-class poor. A recent study by an academic said that 98% of the toll load would be carried by middle-class and rich spenders. So, this is how we are trying to deal with the debt. We have learnt a strong lesson, as the Minister of Transport and the Minister of Finance have correctly said about this matter. This is exactly why we now have a presidential infrastructure co-ordinating Commission - it will carefully assess what we spend infrastructure money on, so that we prioritise correctly. What the DA is suggesting is that we should increase the fuel levy, which means that everyone - all drivers throughout South Africa - would have to pay a debt for roads used by the people of Gauteng. [Interjections.] [Time expired.]