Calls for fuel prices to be deregulated
Another steep fuel price increase is set to kick in, while there are calls for prices at the pumps to be deregulated.
New price adjustments were announced on Monday by the Department of Energy.
Both grades of petrol will cost 81 cents more a litre from midnight.
Diesel goes up by between 72 and 74 cents. Illuminating paraffin increases by 42 cents.
Theuns du Buisson, who is an economic researcher at trade union Solidarity, says the prices are unsustainable.
"We've already grilled the ministers of finance and mineral resources and energy to step in or actually in one case to step aside where we asked that the fuel levy immediately gets reduced and also that minister Gwede Mantashe deregulates the fuel price in order to allow fuel station owners to set their own prices.”
The Automobile Association says the crisis is homegrown.
It says there must be an investigation and a recalculation of the fuel prices to mitigate against rising costs.
“The increases year-on-year since December 2020 are astronomical. Petrol has increased by more than 40%, diesel by around 44%, and illuminating paraffin by more than 70%," says spokesperson Layton Beard.
"Wages and salaries have not kept pace with these heavy increases, and consumers will undoubtedly be under more financial pressure because of the knock-on effects on other products."
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