Reduce fuel levy to prevent a cost-of-living crisis, Mr President
31 March 2022
South Africans face a cost-of-living crisis that could destroy the country as we know it. With petrol and food prices already high and set to skyrocket in the coming months, a poverty emergency is building in South Africa the likes of which we have never seen before. It will plunge millions more into hunger and risks massive social instability.
Government should immediately reduce the fuel levy for six months. This will bring down the petrol price by up to 20%, take pressure off rising food and transport prices and bring immediate relief to the poor.
The fuel levy is R3,93 per litre. Cutting it will bring the petrol price down from about R21 to as low as R17 per litre. Petrol is around R16-R17 a litre in Swaziland, Mozambique, Botswana, Tanzania, Namibia and Kenya, so it’s not an unreasonable price to aim for.
In this time of a looming humanitarian catastrophe, government needs to pull out all the stops to protect the value of social grants, which is fast eroding. About 18 million grant recipients in rural and township communities, and their families, rely on these monthly grants for survival. That means well over half the nation – well over 30 million people - are already struggling to make it through the month and now face steep rises to the cost of living.