ESWATINI FUEL PRICES INFLUENCE SA CALLS FOR REVIEW

MBABANE - The country’s ‘low’ fuel prices are said to be influencing the call for a review of South Africa’s.

Eswatini is a net importer of fuel and the country buys mainly from South Africa (SA) to boost Southern African Customs Union (SACU), revenue while special permits are sometimes issued for Mozambique imports. The general feeling in SA, it was gathered through media reports, was that it did not make sense for fuel to be expensive at the source compared to be where it is being supplied (Eswatini). Three days ago, South Africa’s Business Report reported that the Automobile Association (AA) had set up a petition calling for a review of the fuel prices. “Providing cheaper fuel to South African citizens won’t happen at the push of a button, but will require a multi-layered, multi-departmental approach with the involvement of the private sector,” the AA said. Petrol 95 Unleaded currently costs around E19.61 per litre in South Africa. In Eswatini, a litre of petrol costs E17.15.  The difference is E2.46.

Need

The AA said there was an urgent need for a comprehensive, long-term analysis of the components of the fuel prices and that all fuel price calculations needed to be reviewed to determine if they’re still relevant and appropriate to SA conditions. “Retaining a pricing model because it’s historically the one the country has always used doesn’t make sense; the question must be asked whether there’s a better model available and, if so, whether SA should consider replacing the existing one,” the AA said. It added that the levies for the General Fuel and Road Accident Fund   (RAF) contribute significantly to every litre of fuel sold, but citizens don’t see any tangible benefits from these taxes. “However, several questions arise in relation to the allocation and use of these funds. For instance, the country continues to fund the Road Accident Fund  (RAF) through fuel taxes, but it’s poorly managed and a drain on the country’s resources.

Compensate

“Apart from poor management, there are also questions as to whether the country has explored alternatives to compensate road accident victims and, critically, whether the private sector has been consulted for their inputs,” the AA said. Meanwhile, early this month fuel prices in the neighbouring country were reduced by between 68 and 71 cents/litre of petrol. Diesel prices fell by 67.8 and 69.8 cents/litre. Eswatini’s new prices that were affected in early December 2021 remained the same, as the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy maintained that it was not influenced by developments in SA.

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