Parliament's Standing Committee on Finance chair Maswanganyi says debate on fuel levy hike not over

CAPE TOWN - Chairperson of Parliament's Standing Committee on Finance, Joe Maswanganyi, said the debate on increasing the fuel levy was far from over.

The fuel levy had been left untouched for three years until Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana hiked it on Wednesday in efforts to meet the budget shortfall.

On Wednesday, the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party and the Economic Freedom Fighters both rejected it as a revenue proposal in the 2025 budget when the finance committee met to adopt its report on the fiscal framework, in preparation for next week’s vote in the National Assembly.

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Maswanganyi has committed to further discussions on the matter.

"We had a very lengthy debate about this in 2022. We will look at that in the next quarter when we have Treasury. We will also bring the Department of Energy on board to discuss this matter and see what can be done moving forward. So, we are not dismissing what you are raising Honourable Moatwe, and Honourable Molefe."

Meanwhile, ActionSA's Alan Beesley said that given the widespread financial mismanagement at the Road Accident Fund, which is largely funded by the fuel levy, it should be scrapped on that basis alone.

"The RAF collects R50 billion of taxpayers' hard-pressed money. It's a cesspool of corruption and incompetence. It has an adverse audit report. The CEO should be fired. The board should be fired, and it's just sad that we are taking money from hard-pressed taxpayers, giving it to the RAF and that money is literally going down the drain."