E-tolls must be scrapped‚ Cosatu president Sidumo Dlamini reiterated on Sunday.

Speaking in Rustenburg in North West at the launch of the South African Communist Party’s Red October campaign‚ Dlamini said South Africa required an effective‚ accessible‚ reliable‚ affordable and safe public transport system and not e-tolls.

“New dispensation or no new dispensation‚ e-tolls must be scrapped‚” he said.

Dlamini added that Cosatu‚ which along with the SACP partners the ANC in the ruling tripartite alliance‚ was currently deadlocked on the section 77 notice dealing with public transport demands.

“The matter has been declared to have been considered. We have submitted all the required legal documentation allowing us to engage in a protected strike. The strike we will be having on the 7th October will be protected for all workers‚” he said.

He added: “Our demand is clear and that is we want a safe‚ reliable‚ affordable‚ accessible and integrated public transport system. In the absence of this public transport system‚ workers continue to be affected by the infrastructural backlogs and challenges which cause train delays‚ overcrowding and accidents. Many workers have lost their jobs or experienced pay cuts as a result of late arrivals at work caused by train delays

“Secondly we have a problem with the unfair funding model used in the South African transport system is another? It is unjustifiable that transport costs are increasing while state funding is being drastically reduced by Treasury.”

Cosatu could not accept that taxpayers’ money was being used to subsidise the operations of the Gautrain which was only used by the elite and not by workers‚ Dlamini said.

“In our view‚ it is unjust to use public money to fund a transport service that caters for a small portion of the population. It has been reported that the Gautrain is costing taxpayers R84 million a month. COSATU believes that these funds should be to the expansion and improvement of the public transport system.

“The operations of Gautrain are being financed by the majority of the population‚ whilst the service is only used by the urban elite‚” he said.

“The painful reality is that the working class pay a significant share of their income in monetary value relative to income on public transport cost that is by far inefficient‚ unreliable and hazardous to say the least‚” Dlamini added.