Ramaphosa addresses fuel price hike

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa was quick to say his government was not to blame for the fuel price hike, adding that they were responding to the challenges.

This as he addressed hundreds of congregation members at the Pentecostal Holiness Church, just outside Empangeni, on Friday.

‘Because we are a responsive government, I have tasked ministers in the economic cluster to come up with a package of economic measures to cushion the public from the crippling effects of high fuel price hikes, the VAT increase and rates and taxes.

‘I have given them two weeks to come up with measures on how we can ease the burden of our people.

‘The difficulty here is that we import oil from outside, unlike other African countries such as Nigeria, Ghana and Angola, who are oil producers, so when the price of petrol goes up, we feel the pinch here.

‘More importantly we buy it by the dollar, which means we are suffering because of the exchange rate.

‘We are not the only country affected by the petrol hike price,’ he said.

Earlier this month, Wayne Duvenage, the founder of Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), said government would need to be held responsible for the sale of the country’s fuel reserves, which if available, would have been able to alleviate the pressure of the current petrol price on ordinary citizens.

‘The previous Minister of Energy told us that this was a rotation of stock, however the current minister said that it wasn’t and that South Africa’s fuel reserves had been sold.

‘Former energy minister, Tina Joemat Peterson needs to be held accountable for this.

‘These reserves are crucial for cushioning the high fuel price increase on SA citizens,’ said Duvenage in an interview.

He also added that at least 38% of the price South African’s pay on fuel goes towards the government’s taxes, on the fuel levy and the Road Accident Fund (RAF), taxes which amount to approximately R120-billion per year.

‘Government simply cannot increase taxes, especially on the fuel levy and RAF in the next tax increase, or they run the risk of damaging SA’s economy beyond repair,’ said Duvenage.

Accompanied by Minister of Labour, Mildred Oliphant, ANC KZN leaders including Mike Mabuyakhulu, Musa Dladla Regional Chairperson Mdu Mhlongo and his deputy Thembeka Mchunu, Ramaphosa also appealed to the church to pray for leaders.

‘Pray for us, so we remain committed to advance our country forward.’

This was Ramaphosa’s second visit to the church.

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