This is after the Department of Mineral of Petroleum Resources confirmed fuel price increases across the board, with motorists driving both petrol- and diesel-powered vehicles facing an increase of around R3 to the fuel price.

COSATU said this latest increase marks a more than 25% and 50% increase over the past few months.

Spokesperson, Matthew Parks, said it is disappointing because this is just another blow to the working class.

“This is not just a fuel price issue. It is a cost-of-living crisis. Workers spend up to 30% of their wages on transport. A R3 per litre hike wipes out wage increases. It pushes taxi and bus fares up and threatens to make food even more expensive for working class families. It diverts money that we cannot spare out of the economy,” said Parks.

He added that fuel price increases have pushed inflation beyond the Reserve Bank’s target range, sparking repo rate hikes and pushing workers deeper into debt and ” suffocated already weak economic growth”. He adds that it’s driven the rise of unemployment in the past two quarters.

He notes that fuel levy relief would be a major help.

“Government did well to provide R18 billion Fuel Levy relief in its initial response to the fallout from the war. This helped cushion workers, commuters, SMMEs and the economy from devastating hikes in petrol and diesel prices. It helped reduce the rise in inflation and prevented one repo rate hike. It is a tragedy that Treasury and the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources failed to act now to provide some cushion for commuters and the economy to manage this brutal shock.”

Similarly, the Motor Industry Staff Association’s (MISA) Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said that fuel levy relief at this point is not an option, it is a matter of survival.

“Just a month ago, MISA warned that fuel prices were driving workers below the survival line, with transport and electricity already consuming 65.8% of a minimum wage before food is even bought… This latest increase lands on households with nothing left to absorb it,” said Hlubi-Majola.

On behalf of MISA, she’s callung for a temporary reductionm of the General Fuel Levy by at least R3 a litre on petrol and diesel with oil prices at current levels, as well as for similar relief for households reliant on paraffin.

“MISA is also demanding urgent engagement at NEDLAC to review the levies and margins built into every litre. Workers are being crushed between fuel, electricity, and food costs. Relief is not optional, it is a matter of survival.”