Barbara Creecy, Minister of Transport. (Photo: Road Traffic Management Corporation/X)
The DA is intensifying its fight against transport minister Barbara Creecy’s plans for possible new levies to keep the Road Accident Fund (ROF) afloat.
According to this party, South Africans should not continue to pay for a fund that has been in a financial crisis for years.
Dr. Chris Hunsinger, DA MP and the party’s spokesman on transport, says at a time when South Africans are faced with rising fuel prices, food inflation and increasing financial pressure, the government is considering a new levy linked to vehicle license renewals.
“Instead of correcting the RAF’s long-standing failures, the ANC is once again asking hard-working South Africans to pay more.”
He says the DA is already in discussion with Creecy about plans to replace the RAF, through legislative amendments.
Stock Photo (Photo: Shutterstock)
“We eagerly await her confirmation of a meeting. The RAF is not in crisis because motorists are not paying enough. The RAF is in crisis because years of mismanagement, corruption, waste and poor government have crippled it financially. South Africans should not be forced to foot the bill for the government’s failures.”
The DA has consistently argued that the RAF has become an unsustainable burden on taxpayers and motorists.
Hunsinger says that every liter of fuel that is purchased already includes a levy that funds the RAF.
Creecy apparently confirmed that an additional levy attached to annual license disc renewals is one of the options being considered as the government looks for alternative funding mechanisms for the RAF.
“While she says that it is still being considered, the fact that such proposals are being discussed should worry every motorist in South Africa.”
The DA believes the solution is not new taxes and levies, but rather to fundamentally reform the RAF and eventually replace it with a sustainable, efficient and affordable system that offers support to accident victims without constantly recovering more money from the public.
The party says every rand recovered from motorists through new taxes and levies is a rand that cannot be spent on groceries, school fees, transport or the upkeep of a family.
“South Africans should not be punished for the government’s inability to manage the RAF. The DA will continue to fight any attempt to make motorists pay more to save a broken system,” says Hunsinger.