The DA will make a stand against Sanral’s toll proposal for the N1 and N2 outside the Western Cape High Court today.
|||Cape Town - DA leaders were set to protest outside the Western Cape High Court in opposition to South African National Roads Agency’s (Sanral) intention to construct tolls on the N1 and N2 on Thursday.
Sanral was successful in introducing tolls in Gauteng and are planning to construct them on major highways in the Western Cape.
The city’s application for an interdict against the construction of the N1/N2 Winelands Toll Highway Project was to be heard in the High Court on Thursday.
Grant Pascoe, the DA’s chairman of the Cape Metro, and DA leader Ivan Meyer plan to lead the protest.
Meyer said the most vulnerable communities would be affected by the proposed toll, including Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain.
“We are also concerned it will affect food security because the N1 and N2 are the main routes for food transportation.”
The DA said Sanral was yet to provide concrete estimates of the financial implications the toll plaza would have on people using the highways. “We cannot possibly support it if we don’t know how it will affect the taxpayers.”
Socio-economic impact studies have shown that Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain residents would be hardest hit as they would have to fork out hundreds of extra rand to travel into Cape Town.
Meyer said that they would look into other legal avenues if the court case did not go their way.
Sanral general manager for communications Vusi Mona said they would do their battle inside the court room and the DA protest would have no affect on what the judge would decide.
The DA has urged people to join them in their fight against tolls.
yolisa.tswanya@inl.co.za
Cape Argus