(NEWZIMBABWE) Zuma red-faced after 'Africans backward' gaffe
22/10/2013 00:00:00
by Agencies
SOUTH African President Jacob Zuma was on Tuesday left red-faced following a public backlash at comments labelling nearby Malawi as backward.
While trying to convince motorists to accept a controversial plan to toll highways in and around Johannesburg, Zuma yesterday said South Africans need to stop thinking like "Africans in Africa, generally."
"We can’t think like Africans, in Africa, generally. We are in Johannesburg, this is Johannesburg. It's not some national road in Malawi," Zuma said during the ruling ANC party public forum last evening.
His comments went viral on social media, with the opposition party calling him to retract them.
Zuma’s office scrambled to correct the diplomatic gaffe today, saying media quoted him out of context.
"The remarks were made in the broader context of South Africa achieving more in the past 19 years of freedom and democracy," said his spokesman Mac Maharaj.
He said Zuma was trying to justify the sophisticated road system in the country's economic hub, saying the roads were better than those of other small towns.
The main opposition Democratic Alliance said "the president should rather take a leaf out of the books of other African economies that are actually growing faster than us."
South Africa's government has been struggling to enforce a controversial tolling system on roads between Johannesburg and Pretoria, amid strong public opposition.
Labels: GUY SCOTT, JACOB ZUMA, MAC MAHARAJ, NEOLIBERALISM, SOUTH AFRICA, TOLL ROADS
Read more...
RDA plans tollgate system
By Henry Sinyangwe
Fri 25 Jan. 2013, 13:20 CAT
THE Road Development Agency (RDA) plans to start building a toll-gate system across Zambia's national road network by the end of the year, says chief executive officer Bernard Chiwala.
And Chiwala says the Agency had a challenge of using all the disbursed funds to the road sector due to lengthy procurement procedures.
He said the Agency expected to raise about 25 per cent (about KR1 billion) of its annual budget from the planned toll gates which would go towards roads maintenance.
"We have appointed the road tolling manager and in the next four
months, they will begin the works to prepare for the installation of
toll gates. We will install them on 17 selected sites which we have
already identified. We are expecting by June, we will have concluded
this plan, with building to begin in the second half of the year,"
he said.
The routes the RDA will initially focus on tolling are those linking Livingstone, the tourist capital and Nakonde bordering
Tanzania.
And Chiwala said governments of Zambia and Botswana earlier this month
appointed engineers in charge of building the planned $260 million
bridge that would link the two countries at Kazangula.
"We are planning to start the construction next year in April. It will
take four years to build the 923-meter (3,028-foot) bridge," he said.
Chiwala said all the required funding had been secured for the project.
And on the Chingola-Solwezi Road, Chiwala said the Agency would soon
move on site to maintain it.
"We will be moving onto site for the Chingola-Solwezi and also the
Kabwe-Kapiri. The tolling will address the aspect of trucks on the roads because we will be charging them more towards the maintenance of the roads," he said.
Addressing contractors yesterday, Chiwala said the Agency also faced
challenges of shoddy works, poor designs and uncaring supervision.
He said the country had enough material to undertake the 8000-kilometre Link Zambia Project.
"Don't entice our people in anyway so that the can give the contracts. We will give the evaluating process to independent evaluators to increase transparency. And some people have said the Link Zambia 8000 Project will not work, why should it not? asked Chiwala.
Labels: RDA, ROADS, TOLL ROADS
Read more...
Zinara collects US$57m in toll fees
Saturday, 19 May 2012 00:00
Peter Matambanadzo Senior Reporter
A total of US$57 million in toll fees has been collected since the toll system was started three years ago. In a statement yesterday on the collection and utilisation of toll fees, Secretary for Transport, Communications and Infrastructural Development Mr Partson Mbiriri said US$57 million was collected from August 18, 2009 to April 2012.
“Since we started collecting on August 18, 2009 to April 10, 2012 the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority has collected US$56 552 513,39 and remitted a total of sum of US$47 026 318,83 from toll fees to Zinara after retaining 10 percent for administration purposes and US$49 000 for security each month,” the statement reads.
During the same period, Zinara in turn disbursed US$34 million to the Department of Roads for regional, primary and part of the secondary road network maintenance.
The Ministry of Transport, Communications and Infrastructural Development said US$16,3 million went towards routine road maintenance, US$10,2 million to road dualisation and road
rehabilitation of the Harare-Masvingo Road, Harare-Gweru Road to Norton and Asphalt overlay from Tynwald and the round about near Snake Park.
At least US$2,9 million was used for construction and improvements of temporary tollgate shelters, construction of detours, road widening sites, traffic counts and purchase of office equipment, while US$1,6 million for purchase of 48 pick up trucks and 14 medium size lorries and vehicle maintenance and other activities.
The Harare Airport Road expenditure was US$2 million and a further US$164 447 was used for borehole drilling, fuel procurement and domestic travel expenses.
The Ministry said US$7,8 million was used for the repayment of a loan to the Ministry of Finance through the Infrastructural Development Bank of Zimbabwe.
The money had been borrowed to fund the road dualisation of Harare-Masvingo and Harare Gweru roads. Zinara recently came under fire for blowing over three times what the law allows it to spend on itself in 2010.
The Office of the Comptroller and Auditor-General in a draft audit report for 2010 noted that Zinara was allowed, under the Roads Act, to spend only 2,5 percent of the money it collected for the roads fund on administration, but it spent eight percent.
The Auditor-General said the amount could have been spent on roads.
The law expects Zinara to spend at least 97,5 percent of what it collects in tolls, vehicle licence fees, fuel levies, overload fees and transit coupon fees on maintaining and extending Zimbabwe’s road system.
While the Auditor-General made no allegations of a criminal nature it was concerned that this overspending was done without the written authority of the parent ministry, that of Transport, Communications and Infrastructure Development.
Zinara collects money for Government’s roads pool and distributes it to councils and the District Development Fund for road maintenance.
Labels: INFRASTRUCTURE, TOLL ROADS, ZINARA
Read more...
COMMENT - Tolling South Africa's roads. Welcome to privatisation. Also,
the Freeth and Campbell's lying lawyer, Jeremy Gauntlett, (Mugabe And The White African) works for the South African Treasury! If the MDC wins, Anglo-American, the largest corporation on the SA stock exchange, is going to own 20% of the world's known diamond reserves after privatisation, a definite boon for the SA Treasury. Gee, another fact they didn't mention in their Economist Magazine funded hitjob. (UPDATE May 2, 2012: Jeremy Gauntlett has more recently
defended Wal-Mart and Massmart against the South African government.)
Cosatu and ANC to plead for e-toll postponement
STAFF REPORTER JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Apr 26 2012 17:29
The Congress of South African Trade Unions and the ANC will ask Cabinet to postpone implementation of the e-tolls for a month. Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi tweeted late on Thursday afternoon, "ANC and Cosatu leadership agreed to postpone etolls by month to allow task team more time to explore alternative funding."
Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven told the Mail & Guardian: "A decision has been made to ask government to postpone the e-tolls for a month to allow more time for the task team looking for alternative funding [for the tolls] to continue their work."
The ANC said: "The leadership has collectively agreed to postpone the implementation of the e-toll collection system by a month. This will give the task team more time to explore alternative funding mechanisms."
Vavi said the mass protest action planned for Monday will also be delayed.
Meanwhile, a ruling on whether the e-tolling of Gauteng's highways will go ahead next week will be handed down in the North Gauteng High Court on Saturday, despite this announcement.
"I plan to give judgment at 11am on Saturday," Judge Bill Prinsloo said. "The matter stands until then."
If an interdict preventing e-tolling in Gauteng was granted, it could be in effect for the rest of the year, the High Court in Pretoria heard on Thursday.
"If the interdict is granted, in all legal reality, it must stand until the end of litigation, which would not be set to end any time soon ... maybe until the end of the year," said treasury lawyer Jeremy Gauntlett.
[I heard that name before. He was the lawyer who was lying on behalf of Mike Campbell and Ben Freeth, in Mugabe And The White African. So the lawyer for the Freeths and Campbells is also a lawyer for the South African Treasury! - MrK]
This was due to the time required for the review, as well as further court hearings and appeals.
He said if the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) defaulted on one month of its payment, the government would have to pay its entire debt.
"It does not mean that government would not be able to meet it [the debt], it has to, but at what cost? For this country to sustain R20-billion in unbudgeted capital is a serious matter," Gauntlett said.
He said the government would have to neglect other social and economic obligations to pay off the debt.
"The milk has been spilt with regards to the roads, and people are using them. The issue now is how to pay for them. It has to be paid for. You can say you don't like it, but you can't say that it is irrational."
He said the previous four delays to the e-toll system had come at a "great cost". -- additional reporting by Sapa
Labels: ANC, COSATU, PRIVATISATION, TOLL ROADS
Read more...
COMMENT - Toll roads... Where did I hear that idea before? Road privatisation is the next trick in the neoliberal/globalist arsenal. Ownership of raw materials and land, then ownership of telcos, mail delivery, really the entire infrastructure that everyone uses so the middle class can be levied and charged into oblivion. More from the blog of former 'socialist' New Labour minister and director at NM Rothschild & Sons, John Redwood, back in 2009:
The Sunday Times Rothschilds story. Britain is about the have their entire roadnetwork privatised this way.
The BBC states: "5. It would raise a lot of money for a cash-strapped exchequer - £100bn according to a report by the bankers NM Rothschild". More
on this blog.
Taking a toll on road users
19/03/2012 00:00:00
by Emmanuel Ndlovu
DESPITE the idea of tolling in Zimbabwe being hailed as a bold effort in combating fiscal distress and towards the rehabilitation of rudimentary road infrastructure and maintenance thereof, perennial problems arising from lack of accountability and transparency have presented a new set of problems.
Mal-administration, misappropriation, corruption, poor control mechanisms and revenue leaks have become the byword of the tolling system in Zimbabwe. There is urgent need to address diminishing confidence of both road users and citizens in general over the entire toll gate revenue collection process through inculcating a culture of accountability and transparency.
Tolling is a relatively new phenomenon in Zimbabwe. There are currently more than 24 tollgates dotted around the country’s major roads. The Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA) is mandated to manage the road maintenance fund including setting road-user tariff levels, collection of the funds, disbursement of the funds to road agencies and the monitoring of the usage of such funds.
Since the inception of the idea of tolling, toll gates have generated revenues of more than US$15 Million. The revenue, we are told, is helping the Ministry of Transport to transition out of the fiscal quandary and to ease the burden of the state in financing road infrastructure works.
Ever since their introduction in year 2009, toll gates have been generating an average of US$1,5 million on a monthly basis. According to a report by the Ministry of Transport, 90 percent of the revenue has been remitted to ZINARA with the remaining 10 percent being retained as administration fees.
Problems of revenue misappropriation, mal-administration, corruption, politicisation and outright greed continue to dog the entire process. As Zimbabwe comes of age in its tussle with diminishing public funds to meet the demands for a new and improved transportation infrastructure, it is increasingly becoming important to invest more and more in public-private partnerships (PPP).
Tolling is highly-regarded as a solution to shortfalls in central government financing, but a new set of problems that have presented themselves have greatly imperiled government’s ability to manage the process alone. Public-sector initiatives are thus needed and should be viewed as having the potential to improve quality of life at a reasonable cost, through implementing transportation solutions that can improve quality of life for the public by providing relief and creating economic development opportunities.
In the majority of instances, PPPs provide the opportunity to build projects more quickly and at a lower cost, such as the completion of the needed tolling infrastructure. However, such partnerships require risk sharing, which must begin with an evaluation of each party’s objectives and respective ability to bear risks. In this regard, enduring tolling infrastructure must be constructed through a public-private partnership on a build, manage-and transfer basis.
There has been a growing public outcry that the distribution of the proceeds from the toll gates has been undemocratic and inequitable to the extent that the distribution of the money was done with little regard to its intended use. Toll gates dotted around Zimbabwe have rudimentary infrastructure. They have poor or non-existent verification methods of the amounts being collected.
According to a report given by the Ministry of Finance to Parliament, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) is incurring tremendous losses from running tollgates on behalf of ZINARA. One Member of Parliament boasted in the House of Assembly that his constituency has immensely benefited from the benevolence of the Ministry of Transport which awarded his constituency a hefty share which far exceeded what was actually needed by the constituency. He stated that instead of getting the US$400,000 which they had requested for, the Ministry actually gave his constituency US$1, 8 million.
This raises concerns that the distribution of the money was influenced by other ulterior motives leading to the whole process being regarded as partial, inequitable and not need-based, raising concerns that the money is being used for patronage and vote buying.
This is against the backdrop that the money generated from toll gates should be used for the resurfacing of roads, patching up potholes and financing the construction of permanent shelters at the designated tollgate points.
Roads today are in a horrific state of disrepair and ZINARA and ZIMRA continue with their endless disputes which are not helping road users. ZIMRA corruption at the toll gates, crooked allocation of tickets, failure to adequately monitor and control revenue inflows and non-existent tracking mechanisms capture the state of the tolling system in Zimbabwe. ZINARA also admits that it does not even have control or influence over the printing of tickets, allocation and monitoring thereof.
Against this backdrop, and in order to curb these challenges, there is need for the tolling franchise to be awarded to cities/ municipalities to take over the responsibility of collecting tollgate revenues in order to ensure that the money is used equitable for its intended purpose and minimise chances of accountability and transparency becoming a perpetual mirage. This shall also aid stakeholder monitoring and tracking, which is highly critical.
In this regard, consultation between councils and various other stakeholders is critical. The responsibility to maintain should also be assumed by local authorities. The Ministry of Transport in this case can offer maximum rate of return. In instances where revenue exceeds specified levels, a portion of the excess must go to the state so that this does not create a drag on the state’s ability to support other projects.
As a best practice, government should not only offer minimum revenue guarantees but also prescribe the maximum annual rate of return. This will ensure that the money is used towards its intended benefit. This has the potential of boosting public and corporate confidence and trust and eliminating revenue leaks and mal-appropriation and mal-administration.
Emmanuel Ndlovu is the Advocacy and Programmes Manager for the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association. He writes in his individual capacity.
Contact him: umanu.ndlovu@gmail.com
Labels: ROADS, TOLL ROADS
Read more...
Invest toll fees in road repairs
THE road tolls are starting to produce some serious money for highway maintenance with US$3,1 million taken since they started being collected in August this year.
Around US$1 million a month can do a lot of good. Resentment from road users has so far been minimal, so the idea that road users pay for the roads has been accepted and the modest fees are considered reasonable.
The idea that those who use national services the most, and the roads are definitely that, should pay the bulk of the costs of that service, rather than the general taxpayer, has now been accepted.
So with the income starting to flow in, what is now needed is some spending.
Drivers will pay tolls without too many complaints so long as they are driving on decent roads. Or at the very least, so long as they see gangs starting to repair roads.
Dualisation and widening of roads can wait a little longer; what must be done immediately is repairing what is there, then sorting out some of the more dangerous corners and sections.
Many of these bad patches are well known; there are where so many accidents occur.
Even with dualisation, the old road will be still be one of the carriageways and will not be much use if it has been allowed to break up because the new carriageway has absorbed all the cash.
In the evidence given to Parliament’s Transport and Communication Portfolio Committee this week, Secretary for Transport, Communication and Infrastructural Development Mr Patson Mbiriri was most convincing when he explained why it had been decided to hire Zimra to collect the tolls.
They have the expertise in collecting taxes and accounting for them in some detail. And the fact that the cash collected is deposited straight into the roads authority account means that it is not borrowed or reassigned by a parsimonious Treasury.
It is as unlikely that a group of qualified engineers will know as much as professional tax collectors just how to collect a tax, and more importantly also know how to stop people cheating. In the same vein, a gang of tax-collectors will know less than those engineers how to design and build a road.
But we are a trifle concerned over Zimra’s fee — 10 percent of the cash collected. This might need to be renegotiated now that everyone knows both the costs of collection and the sums collected.
Zimra obviously need to cover their costs and perhaps be allowed a small mark-up, but tax departments should be collectors, not earners, of vast sums.
Like the committee we are a bit worried about the lack of fencing along major highways.
We agree that it is vulnerable to theft and vandalism, but feel that it should be possible to come to some arrangements with landholders along the road. They probably want to keep their livestock off the road as much as the drivers want it off.
So landholders might well agree to guard and police the fences.
Signs need to be replaced, and replaced with materials that are not going to be stolen or sold.
If Sadc has yet to come to a final decision on what signs should look like, then Zimbabwe should do some pushing. In any case, there are now global standards and Sadc will no doubt adopt these.
The tollgates have been successful, they are bringing in respectable sums for road building and maintenance, and cheating is either non-existent or negligible.
Now we just need to start working down the list of priorities to get our roads back into the state they were in a decade ago.
Labels: ROADS, TOLL ROADS
Read more...
COMMENT - Just another step the MDC make to turn Zimbabwe into a country for the rich only.
Zim introduces toll fees to increase revenue
Written by Kingsley Kaswende in Harare, Zimbabwe
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 6:18:11 PM
MOTORISTS using Zimbabwe's major highways will from today onwards be required to pay toll fees in a move aimed at buffering the country's revenue. According to schedules on Statutory Instrument 39 of 2009, light motor vehicles would be charged US $1 per toll point while US $2 would be charged on minibuses.
Large buses would be required to pay US $3 while heavy vehicles and haulage trucks would pay US $5.
"The government has taken a decision to install toll gates as part of efforts to provide for resources necessary to maintain and upgrade our national road infrastructure," finance minister Tendai Biti said.
Toll gates were introduced in January but have taken long to operationalise as the government needed further consultation and approval of the Finance Bill by Parliament.
The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority has since set up 22 rudimentary toll gate structures to facilitate the collection of the money along the highways. Toll fees would be collected from motorists at ports of entry and on city to city routes.
The only exemptions will be diplomatic missions that enjoy privileges under the privileges and immunities Act, vehicles carrying diplomats, vehicles displaying government number plates, those belonging to the State, fire brigade, ambulance service and vehicles bearing Zimbabwe Revenue Authority.
Foreign buses or heavy goods vehicles that cross between two ports of entry shall also be exempted if they present proof of payment of transit charges.
Roads with two toll gate points, the maximum, include Harare Chirundu, Bulawayo-Victoria Falls, Harare-Mutare, Bulawayo-Beitbridge, Masvingo-Beitbridge, Harare-Masvingo and Harare-Gweru.
Those with a single toll points are Bulawayo-Plumtree, Harare-Mount Darwin, Gweru-Masvingo, Gweru-Chivhu, Harare-Nyamapanda, Masvingo-Mutare, Masvingo-Bulawayo and Gweru-Bulawayo.
Labels: MDC, NEOLIBERALISM, ROADS, TOLL ROADS
Read more...
