TAU SA has added his voice to institutions that object to the proposed toll roads in certain parts of the country.
The President of TAU SA, Mr. Louis Meintjes said in a letter to the Minister of Transport that food production should be regarded as a strategic national asset. Mr. Meintjes requested the Minister to a personal conversation to reach a solution, not just about the toll, but also on other transportation related issues that affect farmers.
The full letter to the Minister reads as follow:
Dear Minister Ndebele,
TRANSPORT RELATED ISSUES AFFECTING FOOD SECURITY
I take the liberty of directing this letter to you trusting that through your office two specific issues pertaining to primary food production and the delivery thereof to markets could be addressed. I regard both these issues to be so important that our inability to come to a solution will have a serious detrimental effect on all dependent on access to sufficient food as well as the continued production thereof.
Allow me to elaborate.
Up till now the licensing of implements primarily used on farmland and which very often do not make use of public roads, have been viewed in a sympathetic light. Therefore the question relating to license fees, the road-worthiness of vehicles as well as the category of drivers’ license required to operate the vehicle has been relative simple meeting with the unique circumstances applicable to the utilisation of such implements. Increasingly however it has become obvious the huge increases in license fees and the need to deliver such vehicles (including tractors) to an appropriately accredited testing facility creates challenges which not only affects the productivity of the farm, but also contributes to increased input costs which the farmer cannot recover. It is perceived that the current code for tractor drivers’ licenses makes it possible for a tractor driver also to drive a light motor vehicle. If this is the case the original understanding that driving a tractor at low speeds in a traffic-free environment has unilaterally been changed and this change has created unnecessary problems for farmers.
I also wish to draw your attention to the issue of toll fees on the major routes used by farmers to deliver produce at the markets. As you would well realise, farmers are in fact “price takers” as they are totally dependent on the prices for their products received only after delivery to the markets. Such prices cannot be predetermined and the farmer’s income is dependent on current market prices. Add to this the current expenditure on toll roads (one-way costs Bloemfontein to Johannesburg R364, Komatipoort to Johannesburg R863, Mussina to Johannesburg R672 and Durban to Johannesburg R639 and Swartruggens to Johannesburg R383 – and these tariffs exclude the proposed Sanral E-Tag tolls applicable to the Gauteng urban freeways), increased vehicle registration- and license fees as well as the ever increasing fuel prices, it becomes clear that primary producers of food are confronted by input cost increased which cannot be recovered from income received on markets. This leaves them as the only component in the food chain unable to adjust product prices to cover additional costs.
Bearing in mind that food security should be regarded as a strategic national asset, the question arises whether the time has not come to reconsider issues which could be managed in the national interest which would contribute to ensuring the maintenance of productivity and the interest of the people who also happens to be the consumers of food – a commodity without which life is impossible to maintain.
I would appreciate the opportunity to personally discuss the problems associated with licenses and confirmation of roadworthiness applicable to agricultural implements as well as the possibility of instituting either a exemption of toll fees or a rebate on the transport of primary products contributing to food security trusting that we may well be able to reach agreement and come to solutions which will be in the national interest.
Yours truly
LOUIS MEINTJES
PRESIDENT TAU SA
