Solidarity’s legal team considering legal action over high fuel prices 

2 June 2022

Solidarity today announced that its legal team was urgently investigating various legal routes in order to combat rising fuel prices. 

According to Solidarity, 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), explains: “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 argues that the temporary relief in the form of an extension of the rebate on the fuel levy recently announced by the Minister will be insufficient, short-sighted and even harmful in the long run.

The temporary relief proposed by the Minister is a short-term solution which has extremely detrimental consequences for the fiscus in the long term. Moreover, it does not address the structural problems in South Africa’s fuel market. Sustainable relief lies in breaking the government’s stranglehold on the fuel value chain without putting even more pressure on the state coffers that are shaky as it is,” Du Buisson said.

Solidarity contends that through its regulatory and administrative decisions, the government exercises an excessive and unlawful influence on the determination of the fuel price; and furthermore, that it exerts this influence at the expense of ordinary South Africans as it is, forcing prices up artificially.

“That our government still sees fit to continue to determine and to increase fuel prices unjustifiably amid sky-high inflation, rising unemployment and almost ever-present poverty is unthinkable, unfair and irrational. It cannot be left at that. We have been reaching out to the government with solutions in this regard for quite some time, yet it still continues on its course persistently. 

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 concluded

Issued by Theuns du Buisson, Economics Researcher, Solidarity Research Institute (SRI), 2 June 2022