Following Augusts’ steep petrol price increase, drivers in South Africa should prepare themselves to pay even more for petrol, however if you drive a diesel-powered vehicle then you are in luck.
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy announced the effective fuel prices for September on Tuesday (31 August).
Minister of Energy, Gwede Mantashe said that the fuel prices for September 2021 would be adjusted as follows from Wednesday, 1 September:
- Petrol (both 93 ULP and LRP): four cents per litre (4.00 c/l) increase;
- Petrol (both 95 ULP and LRP): four cents per litre (4.00 c/l) increase;
- Diesel (0.05% sulphur): fifteen point two two cents per litre (15.22 c/l) decrease;
- Diesel (0.005% sulphur): fourteen point two two cents per litre (14.22 c/l) decrease;
- Illuminating Paraffin (wholesale): fifteen cents per litre (15.00 c/l) decrease;
- SMNRP for IP: Twenty cents per litre (20.00 c/l) decrease;
- Maximum LPGas Retail Price: Ninety-four cents per kilogram (94.00 c/kg) increase.
All of this means that from midnight on Wednesday, the retail price of a litre of 95 unleaded petrol will R18.34 in the interior provinces of South Africa and R17.62 at the coast.
Sources: MSN
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ALSO READ: Projected petrol price for September 2021
Cosatu threatens ‘election day’ protest if e-tolls aren’t scrapped
The Congress of South African Trade Union (Cosatu) stated that the government can’t continue to ignore the failed e-toll system in Gauteng and that is should be scrapped.
Cosatu, which represents 1.8 million workers in South Africa, has given transport minister, Fikile Mbalula until the end of September to announce that the government will be scrapping the e-toll system.
“In case (transport) minister Mbalula is not going to make an announcement favourable to our demands by the end of September, Cosatu in Gauteng will be left with no option but to protest on election day,” it said.
Elections are scheduled to take place on 27 October 2021, but court processes are currently underway to postpone this date until 2022.
Cosatu said that, “The e-toll policy has failed. Motorists are not paying even when Sanral is giving discounts”. The union called on all motorists in Gauteng to continue not paying their e-toll accounts in protest of the system.
The union also slammed the deputy minister of transport, Sindisiwe Chikunga, for a weekend interview in which she indicated that motorists would need to pay up their e-toll bills.
Chikunga told eNCA that the scheme was no different to the taxes levied on SA’s roads since the 1700s and that these taxes were necessary for road infrastructure development. While an official announcement is yet to be made, Chikunga said that South Africans would need to pay for the e-toll scheme one way or another.
“The deputy minister has exposed her limited understanding of the reasons behind the rejection of the road user-payer system in Gauteng,” Cosatu said, slamming the deputy minister’s comments as being ‘anti-poor.
They added that, “The roads that are tolled in Gauteng – the N3, N12, N1, M1, and R21 – are used by the citizens of Gauteng to go to and from work, visit families and friends daily. This has brought economic hardship to motorists. Hence (e-tolls) are rejected. It is easier to scrap the e-tolls than to put pressure on the already suffocating citizens through taxes.”
Sources: Business Tech
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