Government “sold off” opportunity to protect South Africans from Saudi drone attacks fallout

30 September 2019

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has taken note of reports that the price of 95 octane petrol will increase by 18c a litre and diesel by 25c a litre. The Minister of Mineral Resources, Gwede Mantashe, has attributed this fuel hike to the recent drone strikes on Saudi Arabia’s oil production facilities.

The reality is that until three years ago government, to a certain extent, had resources to mitigate and protect South Africans from shocks in the global oil industry but ridiculously decided to sell off 10 million barrels of the country’s strategic fuel reserve well below cost or market price in 2015, in what was purported to be a “stock rotation”. No new stock was purchased to replace it.

This means that South Africa does not have the reserves to cushion the impact of any potential global oil shortages or instability – including the recent attacks on Saudi oil fields.

To date, not a single person has been held accountable for the selling off of strategic fuel stocks. This whilst the cost of living is becoming unbearable for ordinary South Africans. As the fuel price is on the increase, so is food prices and transportation fees.

South Africa’s economy cannot afford these fuel hikes, and the continuous hikes will no doubt lead to pressures on small business and ultimately have serious consequences on job creation.

Issued by Kevin Mileham, DA Shadow Minister of Mineral Resources, 30 September 2019