3 things government needs to do to bring down the fuel price: DA
South Africans have been hit with four petrol price hikes in as
many months between April and July – with another increase set
for August.
And with prices at record highs, Mmusi Maimane, leader of the
Democratic Alliance, has called for the president Cyril
Ramaphosa to reduce the fuel levy by R1 per litre.
“When Cyril Ramaphosa was elected president of South Africa the
price of petrol per litre was R14.12. It now costs over R16 per
litre to refuel your vehicle with 95 octane unleaded petrol in
Gauteng. This equates to, on average, almost R100 more every
time you fill your tank.
“Every cent of this massive increase is absorbed by ordinary
South Africans, either directly through increased transport
costs, or indirectly by the resulting rising food prices. And
it is the poor who bear the brunt of this onslaught as they
spend a disproportionately large amount of their income on food
and transport,” Maimane said at a joint press conference in
Tshwane on Tuesday.
This, he said, is simply not sustainable.
“Something has to give. Poor South Africans are already
stretched to breaking point by a stagnant economy and
spiralling unemployment, and there is no sign of this improving
any time soon.
“Our GDP growth figures show that our economy shrunk by 2.2% in
the first quarter of 2018 – the highest quarter-on-quarter in
almost a decade – and our growth forecast has just been cut
from 1.7% to 1.2%.
“If life wasn’t already hard enough for our most vulnerable
citizens, these economic conditions are going to make things
even worse. Government cannot expect poor and unemployed South
Africans to foot the bill for their mismanagement of our
economy,” the DA leader said.
Maimane rejected the notion that the blame for continual fuel
price increases be put on “international markets”, as 33% of
the country’s fuel price is made up of two levies: the general
fuel levy and the Road Accident Fund (RAF) levy.
Currently levies and duties account for R5.30 of every litre of
95 octane petrol, or R265 of every 50 litre fuel tank.
“When you factor in the staggering mismanagement and corruption
at the RAF, these exorbitant levies simply cannot be justified.
Last year alone the RAF made a loss of R30 billion – the
biggest loss of any State-Owned Entity – and they have been
running at a deficit for five consecutive years.
“It is unconscionable that government expects poor South
Africans to make up this massive shortfall,” Maimane said.
He said that to shield ordinary South Africans from the
crippling effects of these fuel price increases, Ramaphosa and
his government need to urgently implement the following:
Reduce the RAF and general fuel levies by R1 per
litre or 20% which will enable the price of petrol
to be brought to below R15 per litre.
Table an urgent debate in Parliament to consider the
current structure of the RAF and General Fuel
Levies, and how these can be altered to offer relief
to ordinary South Africans.
Place the RAF under independent and external
administration to eradicate corruption, install
competent and independent leadership, and begin the process
of tackling its R160 billion backlog in unpaid claims.
“We cannot afford to delay these interventions. People are
already struggling to survive, and it will only get worse
unless we immediately bring the petrol price below R15 per
litre.
“Therefore, we call on all South Africans to join us in
collective mass protest outside National Treasury’s offices in
Tshwane on Tuesday the 31st of July at 10am where we will be
calling for an immediate reduction in the fuel levies. If
enough people add their voices, they won’t be able to ignore
us,” Maimane said.
Read: Here is the expected petrol
price for August
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