R550 toll fee pain for motorists in one of South Africa’s biggest cities

E-tolls may be gone, but many residents in Gauteng are still paying an arm and a leg in toll fees to get to work everyday.

The province’s infamous e-toll gantries were shut down on 11 April 2024, but motorists in Pretoria are still dealing with two toll plazas on major roads that can easily rack up hundreds of rands in fees.

The Stormvoël and Zambezi ramp toll plazas are located on the Stormvoël and Sefako roads connecting to the N1 – the province’s main highway.

Both toll gates were introduced as a means to generate revenue to fund upgrades and maintenance for the important thoroughfares leading to North West and Limpopo.

They went into operation after significant upgrades were made to the surrounding infrastructure in 2000.

Importantly, the areas that the plazas are located in were much less densely populated when they were originally built, and the majority of users at the time were commercial vehicle operators.

Since then, northern Pretoria has become much more developed, with considerable residential growth in suburbs such as Sinoville, Waverley, Montana, and Annlin.

Consequently, the toll gates are now primarily used by commuters driving to their jobs in Pretoria and Johannesburg.

Light vehicles are required to pay R12.50 to pass through the Stormvoël ramp plaza and R15.00 for the Zambesi ramp plaza.

This can quickly add up for motorists who have to commute through these roads every day.

A resident in Pretoria spends R25 per day driving through the Stormvoël plaza, and each month typically has 22 working days.

This means they’re spending upwards of R550 per month in toll fees on their daily commute.

In other words, many Pretoria residents are effectively being penalised for their commutes, even though they may be travelling much shorter distances than other motorists living in the province.

This has naturally become a source of immense frustration for affected households, and the plazas have become a hot-button issue in municipal elections.

E-tolls are gone – But toll fees remain

According to the Pretoria newspaper Rekord, scrutiny over the two toll plazas has grown since Gauteng’s e-tolls were shut down in 2024.

Motorists in Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, and southern Tshwane are now using roads funded through general taxation, while northern Pretoria residents are uniquely subject to a “discriminatory commuter tax.”

This is the opinion of Renier Wolfswinkel, who recently published a report on the city’s toll gates.

He argues that the decision to scrap e-tolls while keeping the Stormvoël and Zambezi plazas operational has created a two-tier system for citizens living in Gauteng.

He also claimed it is unreasonable to expect motorists to use alternate routes for their commute, as arterial roads around Pretoria have become heavily congested for this very reason.

Additionally, it forces drivers to take longer routes, increasing travel times and fuel consumption.

Wolfswinkel recommended decommissioning the Stormvoël plaza, reasoning that it is now situated in an area that impacts multiple residential zones.

As for the Zambezi plaza, he suggested that a new 100% discount be implemented for registered commuters.