With the holidays underway many South Africans will be planning on making a road trip to visit friends and family and go on a well-deserved break, though the cost of doing so could be substantial.
The price of travel has increased considerably in the country this year with alarming increases in fuel prices that saw petrol reach as high as R26.74 per litre in July.
In a similar vein, the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) increased the fees of its national road toll gates in alignment with the Consumer Price Index.
Consequently, several major highways and off-ramp gantries saw as much as a 5% price hike in February.
Highway toll fees
Here are the official toll gate fees for South Africa’s most popular highway routes as of December 2022.
| Route | Toll gate costs |
|---|---|
| N1 Pretoria to Polokwane | R191 |
| N4 Pretoria to Nelspruit | R216 |
| N4 Pretoria to Rustenburg | R69.50 |
| N3 Johannesburg to Durban | R286.50 |
| N1 Johannesburg to Bloemfontein | R161 |
| N1 Johannesburg to Cape Town | R205.50 |
| N2 Durban to Empangeni | R80.50 |
| N2 Cape Town to Gqeberha | R59.50 |
In addition to hiking fees for the physical gantries, the prices of Gauteng’s e-tolls also went up during the year and will need to be accounted for by motorists in the province.
The controversial tolling project was recently handed over to the Gauteng provincial government after it reached an agreement with the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) to contribute 30% and 70%, respectively, to service debt and interest obligations racked up by the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) of which e-tolls is a part of.
However, the consensus was reached on the condition that the provincial government finds a way to repurpose the GFIP and also deal with all maintenance and development costs that may arise in the future.
Following this, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi announced that the provincial government has constructed three task teams to decide on the future of the project.
One team has the job of finding the money for maintaining the GFIP going forward, and this will be led by the MEC for Finance, Jacob Mamabolo.
Another team, led by the MEC for community safety Faith Mazibuko, will investigate how the existing e-toll infrastructure can be repurposed, with the current proposal being to utilize the highway gantries to “deal with the challenges of crime,” according to the Premier.
Both these groups will then be supported by a third “technical team” – led by the Acting Director General from the office of Premier Mduduzi Mbada.
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