The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called for Parliament to be reconvened urgently to discuss multiple crises hitting the country simultaneously.
The party says these include stage six rolling blackouts, the fuel price crisis, the cost-of-living crisis, the Phala Phala scandal, unemployment and growing lawlessness.
The party says these are causing immense and unnecessary economic damage and human suffering.
In a statement, party leader John Steenhuisen says he has written to National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to request that MPs return to work.
Steenhuisen says it is inconceivable that Parliament is shut when it should be meeting around the clock to find solutions to these problems.
The video below is reporting on the fuel price hike:
He says the need to reconvene Parliament is even more urgent because of what he says is President Cyril Ramaphosa’s unwillingness to speak to the nation about the state the country is in.
He says it has been ten days since he wrote to Mapisa-Nqakula requesting that she urgently establish an ad-hoc committee to investigate the Phala Phala robbery scandal.
He says no action has been taken.
Members of Parliament are currently on constituency break and are only expected back in about five weeks.
In the report below, questions continue to mount around the alleged theft at the Phala Phala farm:
Calls for government to intervene
Automobile Association of South Africa spokesperson Layton Beard says government needs to urgently review fuel prices in the country.
His comments come as the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy announced a R2.37 per litre increase in the price of petrol, while diesel is set to increase by R2.30 per litre, and the price of illuminating paraffin will increase by R1.66 per litre from Wednesday.
Higher fuel prices have been pushed up by a weaker rand/dollar exchange rate, rising Brent Crude Oil prices on the back of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and rising demand in China, among other factors.
The fuel price increase comes as the government’s 75 cent reduction in the fuel levy – as relief for struggling consumers – expires on 3 August 2022.
Department of Energy’s Robert Maake says the government has done what it can in terms of the relief on the fuel levy:
