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Stop-gap measures work for some short-term problems.
But then there are those problems that do not require short-term solutions. What challenges need are proper, well-considered interventions.
Gauteng motorists have been strongly opposed to the e-tolling system since the word go. The numbers do not lie.
Very few people are paying for e-tolls and many of those who started paying have since stopped.
This is despite the SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) introducing carrot-and-stick measures to get people to pay.
In the 2014 general elections and the 2016 local government polls, e-tolling was a big issue for Gauteng voters.
Despite the ANC in Gauteng being vocally opposed to the system, they could do nothing about it as it is a national policy and the people at that level are committed to e-tolls.
The voters punished the party at both provincial and local levels.
National elections are around the corner and e-tolls are again an issue. The opposition DA and EFF have been capitalising on people’s aversion to e-tolling.
So, when Sanral made the startling announcement that it would not pursue defaulters or issue any more summonses, the question was widely asked about what had prompted the decision.
The conclusion that many reached was that with the May 8 elections around the corner, the state-owned enterprise had opted to give the governing party a much-needed boost.
The problem with this opportunistic decision is that it is short term and does not even begin to deal with the long-term problem of the multibillion-rand debt that has been incurred by Sanral in trying make the system work.
Similarly, South Africa does not require short-term solutions when it deals with load shedding.
Eskom’s sudden decision to end the damaging load shedding is welcome but its opportunistic nature is also worrying.
It bears all the hallmarks of making the governing party’s life easy, no matter the cost to the grid.
We accept that at election time incumbent parties take advantage of their access to resources and decision making.
They make decisions based on what will benefit them at the polls.
Short-term “solutions” are often dangerous and come back to haunt society at a later stage.
