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Solidarity has drafted a parliamentary petition and says it will be running a huge campaign to pressure the government into deregulating the petrol price and lowering fuel prices.
On Tuesday, the trade union demanded that the determination of fuel prices should be left entirely to the market so that healthy competition could prevail for the benefit of consumers. According to Solidarity, the government has a stranglehold on fuel prices which must be broken. It is the union’s contention that most other countries leave the determination of fuel prices to the market and where prices are indeed regulated, it is to keep them low. “Our research shows that in South Africa price regulation is keeping fuel prices artificially high instead. This amounts to deception because the state, which was appointed by us to look after our interests, is thus acting contrary to our interests,” said Theuns du Buisson, economics researcher at the Solidarity Research Institute (SRI). The union argued that, while there were indeed international factors that influenced fuel prices, the government “still cannot justify its own irresponsible actions”. Du Buisson stated: “We must now take action to force the government to act in the interests of South Africans and not in their own. When the price of fuel rises, almost all other products and services also become more expensive, and ordinary South Africans struggle to make ends meet.” Solidarity explained that it had no choice but to launch an extensive campaign, saying further: “We ask everyone to sign our petition that will be submitted to Parliament. If enough people make their voice heard the government cannot ignore us.”
- Read the full original of Solidarity’s press statement in regard to this matter and access the full petition at Solidarity News
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