Dear Editor
More than 123 000 South Africans have supported the DA’s call to cut the exorbitant taxes on fuel.
More than a third of the price South Africans pay for fuel is a tax levy intended to buffer National Treasury’s coffers. While that money could be spent on road infrastructure, education, health care or social development, it is in fact looted by corrupt cadres and comrades or wasted on vanity projects that have been captured by the politically connected.
The past 28 years under an ANC government have bled South Africans dry, and we simply cannot afford the exorbitant fuel prices and resulting increases on all other necessities. The coming months will see South Africans fall deeper into debt and hunger and hopelessness will soar.
It is time the ANC government scrapped the 33% tax levy on fuel; deregulated and reduced the fuel price; reformed or replaced the bankrupt and mismanaged Road Accident Fund levy; and introduced a comprehensive rescue plan for South Africa to reduce the cost of living on all fronts.
The DA will continue to fight the ANC government’s efforts to further impoverish South Africans. We are waiting in anticipation for confirmation on a date for our debate of national importance regarding the impact of continued rising fuel prices on the cost of living and what can be done to protect the poor and vulnerable.
The DA is also in the process of introducing a Private Member’s Bill to deregulate the fuel sector to encourage competition among fuel wholesalers and retailers.
Regards
Kevin Mileham MP
DA Shadow Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy
