Finance minister Enoch Godongwana and his energy counterpart, Gwede Mantashe, this week announced a temporary reduction of the fuel levy by R3 per litre to mitigate the impact of skyrocketing oil prices unleashed by the demagogue in the White House.
The levy has come down from R4.10 to R1.10 per litre of petrol, and from R3.93 to 93 cents for diesel.
It is, I suppose, expected of us to be thankful for this ministerial magnanimity. But before you’re tempted to take to the dance floor in celebration, be mindful of the fact that this bonanza is only for a month. It’s a flash in the pan, a drop in the ocean, and it’ll be over before you can blink. And, after a month, what then? You guessed it, we’ll have another task team.
Donald Trump’s unprovoked attack on Iran is killing thousands of innocent civilians; destroying infrastructure, including priceless medieval architecture that dates back thousands of years; and has predictably sent oil prices skyrocketing.
America’s European allies, who until recently had believed they could appease the US president, now seem to have come to the end of their tether. While they had previously joined the US in its reckless campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, they’re now determined to sit this one out or do the bare minimum, like securing the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil route. Many of these countries have introduced measures to cushion their citizens against these increases.
President Cyril Ramaphosa told ANC faithful in Limpopo last week that he was spending sleepless nights over the increase, which is a shame. His compatriots would want him to sleep soundly at night so that he would be wide awake and alert during the day to do the job for which he was elected. The problem is that at times it’s often a bit difficult to make out whether he’s on the ball or perpetually enjoying a snooze.
The temporary reprieve on the fuel levy is not a solution; it’s papering over the cracks or, at worst, kicking the can down the road with the hope that in a month the price of oil would have stabilised and the public outcry and anger would have dissipated.
The temporary reprieve on the fuel levy is not a solution; it’s papering over the cracks or, at worst, kicking the can down the road with the hope that in a month the price of oil would have stabilised and the public outcry and anger would have dissipated. And it would then be back to business as usual. The public is set to bear the brunt, especially from the domino effect of the fuel increase. But it’s heaven-sent, especially for the taxi industry, which is quick to increase fares but never ever reduces them when the fuel price comes down.
The controversy over the fuel levy is as old as the hills. Its rationale is to fund the development and maintenance of national roads and infrastructure. But it’s never used for such a thing.
Instead, it goes into the general national kitty to fund government programmes such as education, health, and so on. On top of the fuel levy, motorists still have to pay tolls to fund the maintenance of the national road network.
The question that the government has been unable to answer is why motorists should both pay the fuel levy and tolls. Why pay the levy if the roads are tolled? It’s an argument that ultimately condemned the hare-brained Gauteng e-toll system to the scrapheap of history.
Pay tolls for the luxury of driving on a world-class road network, we’re told. But motorists already pay for that so-called world-class network — potholes included — each time they fill up the tank.
What is even more infuriating is that our neighbours pay less for fuel although they get it from us. It’s quite ridiculous for people to be rushing across the border to Botswana to fill up on fuel that comes from their own country. It’s a reflection of a government with absolutely no regard for the welfare of its citizens.
The ANC often prides itself on being a pro-poor party that places the needs of the poor and the marginalised at the centre of its economic policies, and yet its actions and decisions have often gone counter to such an ethos.
The cabinet this week announced yet another ministerial task team to look into the fuel price impact. We’ve been here before. In July 2018, following another substantial increase, Ramaphosa charged ministers in the economic cluster to look into interventions, including the fuel levy. High-octane petrol had risen to around R16, quite a shock at the time. Nothing came of it.
The ANC often prides itself on being a pro-poor party that places the needs of the poor and the marginalised at the centre of its economic policies, and yet its actions and decisions have often gone counter to such an ethos.
The first big item expenditure on coming to power was not some programme to alleviate the country’s high unemployment rate, for instance. No, billions were on military weapons. And it’s not as if the country were under any potential threat. They knew such a huge expenditure would be teeming with kick-backs for the comrades. The arms deal was a prelude to the grand looting that is now commonplace.
Time and again the party has to be coaxed, cajoled and coerced to do the right thing. Last year the ANC had a huge dust-up with the DA that almost scuppered the GNU because it was so determined to impose a VAT increase on an unsuspecting public. The impact of such an increase on the poor seemed lost on them. Thankfully, they had to eat humble pie in the end.
It is interesting that as the public faced the prospect of a cost-of-living crisis due to these escalating increases, Godongwana was raising the price limit for ministerial vehicles to over a million rand because they claim they’re unable to find cars that are “fit and proper” for their status with the current limit of R800,000. Which just goes to show that we’re dealing here with a rapacious bunch of elites living large on the backs of the poor, often only regarded as convenient voting fodder.
It’s about time the ANC put its money where its mouth is and looked after the needs of ordinary citizens, especially in a country with such a high unemployment rate. It can start by scrapping the fuel levy. It’s too good a crisis to waste.
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