Parliament gazetted the formal notice of intention for the Petroleum Products Amendment Bill to be introduced on Friday. This is a big step forward in the Democratic Alliance (DA) drive to deregulate fuel prices.
Last week the DA submitted the full text of their Fuel Price Deregulation Bill to Parliament for them to process, and bring it forward so that it can go to a vote urgently.
“Ultimately, the ANC has no choice but to support this bill – it is the only viable solution on the table to bring relief to the people of this country who are drowning under rapidly rising prices and cost of living” says Kevin Mileham MP – DA Shadow Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy.
The aim of the bill is to end exorbitant ANC government taxes on fuel, and to stop the ANC government from centrally controlling the fuel price, keeping it artificially high.
“An artificially high fuel price simply means more taxes for the ANC government’s coffers. And money in the ANC government coffers funds corruption, cars, houses and luxury for ANC insiders” says Mr Mileham.
The DA estimates that by ending unnecessary taxes on fuel, and deregulating the fuel price, the price can be lowered by up to R9 a litre. Without a doubt, this would make a large, positive impact on people and businesses.
“At Friday’s prices, if Parliament agrees to the DA measures to lower fuel prices by up to R9 per litre, we would drive the petrol price down to about R17.50 per litre” says Mr Mileham, “and once price equilibrium is established around this R9 per litre price reduction, with a deregulated fuel price, lower oil prices in due course will mean that the price at the pumps will continue to fall.”
“While the ANC government does nothing but raise the fuel price, the DA is fighting all out to lower the fuel price permanently. Our Bill before Parliament will be a most telling test for where the ANC’s loyalty lies on the exorbitant fuel price: To itself as it extracts maximum taxes, or to the country which is buckling under the fuel price rip-off” he added.
With the publication of the Notice for their Bill, Mr Mileham states that the DA invites the public to comment in support of lowering the fuel price by deregulation.
“The DA encourages and invites every person who wants to see lower fuel prices to please comment favourably on today’s notice to introduce our Bill” says Mr Mileham.
