MBABANE: Brian Sangweni, the Spokesperson of the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) said as usually, the proposed toll gates by King Mswati's Government would become a cash cow to sustain the extravagant lifestyle of the royal family.
This comes after the Times of Eswatini reported that Chief Ndlaluhlaza Ndwandwe, the Minister of Public Works and Transport was preparing to table a Road Authority Bill in Parliament, once the Bill is passed into law, it will see the introduction of toll gates in the country.
Speaking to this Swaziland News on Thursday, the PUDEMO Spokesperson said government was repaying huge loans hence they were struggling with sustaining the ever growing royal family adding that this was another money making scheme for royalty.
“Government is now struggling to fund the opulent lifestyle of the ever growing royal family, the money that will be collected from these toll gates will go straight to royalty just like what happened with the Scholarship Recovery Fund. This will be a loss to the Swazis, the roads are still going to be in a dilapidated state and these funds will not be used to improve the roads like in other countries. This will also result in the hike of goods and services, consumers will suffer as a result”, said the PUDEMO Spokesperson.
A questionnaire was sent to Government Spokesperson Sabelo Dlamini, however, he had not responded at the time of compiling this report.
But Sabelo Dlamini, the Secretary General of the Eswatini Local Kombi Association warned that there would be a hike in public transport fares.
“Consumers should brace themselves for a hike in public transport fares since this means that we would have to transfer the costs to them. In other countries, public transport operators are given cards so they can pay a discounted monthly fee thus reducing the costs of operating their businesses, so that would also work for us. The funds collected from these toll gates should be deposited into a separate account so that they could be used for the purposes of maintaining roads , this will reduce the chances of misappropriation”, he said
Toll Gates in South Africa(pic; South African)