The DA staged a picket in Kimberley on Monday against the fuel price hike that will come into effect on June 1.
THE DA staged a picket in Kimberley on Monday against the fuel price hike that will come into effect on June 1.
Motorists can expect to pay a hefty R25 a litre at the petrol pumps from Wednesday.
DA provincial leader Harold McGluwa said residents were struggling to make ends meet with the escalating food prices that were directly affected by exorbitant fuel prices.
“Now people will have to choose between spending R25 on another litre of petrol to get them to work and their children to school, or on a loaf of bread and a tin of beans to feed their family. The fuel price is clearly out of control and in a province as vast as the Northern Cape, where road transport is the only option, it is a total disaster,” said McGluwa.
He added that the DA had started a petition calling on the government to reduce taxes and to lower fuel prices.
“We have already received a record number of signatures countrywide, calling on the government to make the cost of living affordable.
“The fuel price increase will hit the people of this Province the hardest and send thousands more people into a financial and humanitarian crisis. It must be opposed at all costs.”
McGluwa pointed out that citizens of the Province had to travel long distances at high costs to collect their grants, access medical care or lay a criminal charge at a police station.
“In some cases, the benefits of collecting their grants will become completely nullified by the travelling costs that must be paid to do so. More people will skip their clinic appointments if they cannot get there by foot, resulting in more people defaulting on chronic medication. This will result in people getting sicker and ultimately put a further burden on the already overwhelmed state. People will also opt not to make the trip to the police station to report crimes, enabling especially gender-based violence to thrive.
“At the same time, a large part of the provincial economy relies on the roads to carry manganese, iron ore and food produce. Further fuel increases will collapse what is left of our economy.”
