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On Thursday, Solidarity announced that its legal team was urgently investigating various legal routes in order to combat rising fuel prices.
According to the trade union, the government and especially Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe “are still playing a significant role in the recent record increase in fuel prices”. Theuns du Buisson, economic researcher at the Solidarity Research Institute (SRI), explained: “Although we realise that turbulent world markets and other factors such as the exchange rate still have the greatest impact on the price of fuel, this does not mean that we can forgive the government for their role in forcing prices even higher with inefficient regulations. It is precisely in such disastrous times that action is most needed.” Solidarity argued that the temporary relief in the form of an extension of the rebate on the fuel levy recently announced by the Minister would be insufficient, short-sighted and even harmful in the long run. The union contended that through its regulatory and administrative decisions, the government exercised an excessive and unlawful influence on the determination of the fuel price at the expense of ordinary South Africans as it was forcing prices up artificially. “Despite undertakings given in Parliament and in the media to deregulate the Department has not kept its word. We now have to turn to the courts for solutions to persuade the government to take action,” Du Buisson indicated.
- Read Solidarity’s press statement on this matter at Solidarity News
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