Deputy Speaker, through you to the hon Ollis; if I were you, I would not ask for the recordings of the meeting because with the ANC government, once you mention recordings or tapes, you will not get them. [Laughter.] Cope will not support this Bill, because the focus is entirely on the collection of tolls and not on any transparency relating to where the money will go to and what sort of profits will be permissible.
Every law that we make and every amendment that we consider must show that transparency and accountability are the pillars on which they rest. That this Bill will indeed facilitate the collection of tolls and the implementation of the Electronic Toll Collection, ETC, system is granted. It is also granted that this Bill will support the South African National Roads Agency Limited's business and financial plan. Unfortunately, this plan was not available for scrutiny, and the House would be reckless in giving direct support to a plan of which it has no intimate knowledge.
Squeezing our hard-pressed citizens from every angle for every development over and above the taxes directly and indirectly paid is becoming intolerable. To add insult to injury, there is little or no accountability of exactly how the money is spent. Government needs to understand that there are financial consequences for it as well as for citizens regarding the collection of tolls. Government is worried about the ineffective collection of tolls, but people are concerned about the cost of collecting tolls and particularly about the hidden costs. Government has become too big and too costly, and the delivery of the services is being outsourced at a further cost, and this is untenable.
Motorists are being called upon to pay an increased fuel levy as well as tolls which are heavier than they ought to be. The strain on them is enormous. Government needs to go back to the drawing board and undertake a cost-efficiency exercise. We agree with the Minister of Finance that we need more bang for our buck and real value for our money. The licence to print money is one thing that Cope cannot grant the government. We cannot, therefore, in good conscience, support this Bill as it stands.
If government wants more revenue, it must provide better transparency and better accountability. For your information, nothing has changed. Cope has never supported this Bill and will never support it in its current state. Thank you, Deputy Speaker. [Applause.]