The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) notes with outrage the latest fuel price increases that will once again plunge millions of workers and poor households deeper into crisis.
These increases come at a time when workers are already drowning under the weight of mass unemployment, stagnant wages, electricity hikes, transport costs, food inflation, debt, and collapsing public services. Every fuel increase triggers a chain reaction across the economy pushing up the prices of food, public transport, electricity generation, production inputs, and all basic necessities.
The working class is once again being forced to carry the burden of a global capitalist system driven by war, militarism, speculation and oligarchic greed.
WORKERS ARE PAYING FOR IMPERIALIST WARS AND OIL OLIGARCHS
The current global fuel instability cannot be separated from escalating geopolitical tensions, military aggression, sanctions regimes, and the domination of the world economy by imperial powers and giant energy corporations.
Ordinary workers in South Africa are now effectively subsidising the profits of multinational oil giants, weapons manufacturers, and billionaire oligarchs whose wealth multiplies during periods of war and instability.
The United States remains the world’s most powerful military empire, spending more on war and militarisation than the next several countries combined. Every escalation of conflict in strategic oil-producing regions sends shockwaves through energy markets, allowing oil corporations and commodity speculators to make super profits while ordinary people suffer.
The reality is that wars have become enormously profitable for sections of global capital. Oil conglomerates, arms manufacturers, hedge funds, commodity traders, and financial speculators thrive on instability. The bloodshed of ordinary people becomes a business opportunity for billionaires.
While workers queue for taxis and struggle to buy bread and paraffin, the world’s oligarchs accumulate obscene wealth from war contracts, oil speculation, shipping disruptions, and financial manipulation.
The same global capitalist order that lectures developing countries about “fiscal discipline” has no hesitation in pouring trillions into militarisation, sanctions, proxy wars, and corporate bailouts.
South Africa’s working class must not be made to pay for imperial rivalries and capitalist profiteering.
SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT MUST ACT NOW
SAFTU reiterates its previous calls for immediate state intervention to protect workers and poor communities from relentless fuel price shocks.
The government cannot continue hiding behind the excuse of “international markets” while imposing one of the heaviest fuel tax burdens on society.
Fuel levies have become a mechanism for extracting revenue from workers and the poor instead of taxing wealth, corporate profits and financial speculation.
SAFTU therefore demands:
- The total removal of the General Fuel Levy on petrol and diesel.
- Immediate emergency relief for poor households dependent on paraffin, including the suspension of all taxes and levies on illuminating paraffin.
- A temporary fuel price stabilisation intervention to cushion workers from extreme global oil volatility.
- A comprehensive review of the Basic Fuel Price mechanism and the role of private monopolies in fuel pricing.
- Direct intervention against excessive profiteering and speculative pricing in the energy sector.
- Expansion of safe, affordable and publicly subsidised public transport.
- Accelerated investment in public energy infrastructure to reduce dependence on volatile global fossil fuel markets.
TOTAL OVERHAUL OF FISCAL AND MONETARY POLICY
SAFTU reiterates its long-standing call for a complete overhaul of South Africa’s failed macroeconomic framework.
The current crisis demonstrates the bankruptcy of neoliberal fiscal and monetary policies that have prioritised:
1 inflation targeting over employment,
2 austerity over development,
3 privatisation over public investment,
4 financial markets over productive industrialisation,
5 and corporate profits over human needs.
For more than three decades, workers and the poor have been told there is “no money” for jobs, public services, infrastructure, housing, healthcare, education and social protection. Yet billions are routinely found for corporate incentives, debt servicing, private sector bailouts and tender corruption.
SAFTU reiterates its call for:
- An immediate end to austerity and budget cuts that are collapsing public services and infrastructure.
- A developmental fiscal policy centred on mass job creation, industrialisation and redistribution.
- Large-scale public investment in rail, ports, energy generation, water infrastructure, housing, healthcare, education and local manufacturing.
- The expansion of public employment programmes into permanent, decent and pensionable jobs.
- A decisive shift away from inflation targeting towards an employment-creating monetary policy.
- Lower interest rates to stimulate productive sectors of the economy instead of enriching banks and financial speculators.
- Exchange controls and stronger measures to stop illicit financial flows and capital flight draining billions from the country annually.
- The rebuilding of state-owned enterprises and strategic public ownership in key sectors of the economy.
- The introduction of progressive taxation measures, including:
-higher taxes on corporate profits,
-a wealth tax on multi-millionaires and billionaires,
-taxes on luxury consumption,
-and stronger taxation of financial speculation and windfall profits.
-Aggressive action against illicit trade, transfer pricing, customs fraud and corporate tax evasion.
-Democratic state-led industrial policy focused on beneficiation, localisation and rebuilding manufacturing capacity.
-The expansion of affordable, reliable and publicly owned transport systems to reduce dependence on private fuel consumption.
SAFTU further reiterates that South Africa cannot continue relying on a narrow tax base overwhelmingly carried by workers while wealth concentration reaches obscene levels.
The burden of adjustment must shift decisively onto monopolies, financial institutions and the super-rich.
PEOPLE BEFORE PROFITS
South Africa faces a historic choice. Either society continues protecting the profits of corporations, banks, oil giants and oligarchs while the working class sinks deeper into misery, or we build an economy centred on human need, solidarity, public ownership and social justice.
SAFTU calls on workers, communities and progressive formations to intensify the struggle against austerity, inequality, profiteering and neoliberalism.
The working class must not pay for imperial wars, capitalist greed and government policy failures.
A statement was issued on behalf of SAFTU by the General Secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi.
For media inquiries, contact
National Spokesperso:
Newton Masuku
newtonm@saftu.org.za 0661682157
Media Officer
Asive Dyani 0719019564
