The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) welcomes the continuous fall in petrol prices bringing relief to millions of workers, commuters and the economy.  We urge government led by the African National Congress to accelerate its efforts to maintain this progress and to further cushion a still fragile economy.

South Africans have struggled to cope with the spike in international oil prices over the past two years which saw a massive rise in the price of fuel, food, electricity and other essential goods.  The substantial fall in the price of petrol will help millions of workers.  Whilst appreciating these positive developments, more must be done.

Government needs to honour its commitments in 2018 and 2022 and more recently in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s bold and progressive Opening of Parliament Address in July, to review the fuel price regime as well as the current basket of goods exempt from VAT to give further relief to workers and the economy.

This task is drastically becoming more urgent with the apartheid Israeli regime launching yet another genocidal war against Lebanon as this is very likely to see oil prices skyrocket once again.  This will setback the progress South Africa has made reducing inflation.  It will also spook the Reserve Bank from further reducing the repo rate at its next meeting in November.

Government needs to be proactive and return to the negotiating table at Nedlac and report to Parliament on a comprehensive set of measures to reduce the still expensive fuel price regime, zero rating key food items from VAT as well as further interventions to ensure Eskom ends its unhealthy addiction to double digit tariff hikes and Transnet and Metro Rail are restored to full capacity to help shield food and commuters from the worst effects of inflation.

This must be a priority for government and not reduced to an annual hallmark greeting card ritual.

Issued by COSATU

Matthew Parks(COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator)

Cell: 082 785 0687

Email: matthew@cosatu.org.za