Eleven hours after raising the petrol price on 1 December 2021 the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) issued a statement that it made a mistake on the increased petrol price.
Instead of the 81 cents/litre which motorists had already paid, the increase should have been 75 c/l.
The reason given for this discrepancy was ‘due to the fact that the adjustment of wages for service station workers had already been implemented in September 2021. Although it is for the very first time that such an error has occurred in the history of basic fuel price determination in South Africa, the DMRE profusely apologises for the inconvenience caused.”
The amount hasn’t been corrected and so the price of petrol is still above R20 a litre, as South Africans are gearing up to go on holiday.
The Automobile Association of South Africa, which is critical of the way the petrol price is structured, said: ‘The error by the DMRE validates the AA’s call that a total review of the fuel price, and an audit of all the processes and components which comprise the fuel price, is necessary. While we appreciate that errors occur, the impact of the fuel price on millions of South Africans cannot be underestimated. This error, in fact, must be the catalyst for such a review.
‘The fact that daily fuel price updates are being withheld from the public — and that only the monthly adjustment is now being released — means there is no transparency in the process of fuel price determination.’