Lower fuel price welcome, but a sustainable solution is needed

 

#MISA welcomes the drop of both grades of petrol by R2.04 cents today, but will continue with its efforts to find a sustainable solution to shield workers from the impact of skyrocketing fuel prices.

 

The fuel price had its biggest drop since 2020 today after the global price of crude oil skyrocketed with Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine in February 2022.

 

Martlé Keyter, #MISA’s Chief Executive Officer: Operations, says the Union has been in constant contact with the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to be included in the review of the fuel pricing methodology.

 

There was confusion as to whether the fuel pricing methodology would still be reviewed after Mineral Resources and Energy Minister, Gwede Mantashe, published a notice in the government gazette under section 2(1)(c) of the Petroleum Products Act, giving notice of the intention to introduce a price cap or maximum price for 93-octane petrol.

 

The public had until 31 August 2022 to submit comments on the proposed draft.

 

Raphi Maake, Senior Manager in the Department, told #MISA the Department is consolidating all the comments from stakeholders and will engage with them individually and host a stakeholders meeting thereafter. The purpose of the meeting would be to present the Department’s responses to the submissions.

 

“The Department will invite #MISA to join the committee to review the Fuel Prices once it is established.

 

That is a different process from the price cap regulation. However, #MISA will also be invited to the stakeholders meeting once the department has consolidated all the submissions,” says Maake.

 

According to Keyter 33.5% of the price South Africans pay for a litre of fuel, is taxes and levies. The General Fuel Levy is R3.93 per litre and the Road Accident Fund (RAF) levy at R2.18 per litre.

 

Combined they add R6.11 to every litre of fuel. The time has come to determine if these taxes must continue to be paid out of the fuel price.

 

The drop in the fuel price comes a day after Statistics South Africa announced South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 0.7% in the second quarter (Q2) of 2022. This setback was mainly due to the floods in KwaZulu-Natal over Easter, the increasing fuel price and the consistent implementation of loadshedding throughout the winter by Eskom.

 

Issued on behalf of #MISA by Sonja Carstens, Media, Liaison and Communication Specialist.

#MISACARES #MISAONTHEMOVE