Gwede Mantashe should put the livelihoods of the residents of Nelson Mandela Bay ahead of a request by the Liquid Fuels Wholesalers Association to exempt the region from the anticipated national fuel price drop.
The infrastructure in Port Elizabeth harbour that is used to offload fuel has been damaged and is not operational. That means fuel must be offloaded in East London harbour until Port Elizabeth is fixed, a process that will take more than a year. The fuel wholesalers have asked that for petrol pricing purposes, Nelson Mandela Bay be treated as an inland region where petrol prices are slightly higher. They want the extra cash to compensate them for what they say are the higher costs of transporting fuel from East London.
This exemption, if granted, would unfairly burden the people of Nelson Mandela Bay with higher fuel costs at a time when they are already struggling under immense economic pressure, heightened by ongoing power outages and disruptions to essential services. The request made by the LFWA is not only unjustified and an act of unethical profiteering but ignores the reality that transportation costs to Nelson Mandela Bay are already accounted for in South Africa’s Basic Fuel Price methodology.
The DA has written to the Minister to urge him to reject the attempt to deny Nelson Mandela Bay residents the same fuel price relief as the rest of the country. We further call on the Minister to ensure that Transnet fast tracks repairs to the damaged harbour infrastructure, restoring normal operations as soon as possible, so that such disruptions do not occur in the future.
There is no way the people of Nelson Mandela Bay should suffer financially for mistakes made in the harbour. Mantashe cannot agree to put the profits of fuel wholesalers ahead of the interests of residents of an entire city.
The DA will continue to fight for the economic well-being of all South Africans, ensuring that no community is hurt by an unjust decision.