Parliament’s portfolio committee on Economic and Business Development has welcomed the government’s intervention to mitigate the impact of fuel price increases.
On Friday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that government would announce a package of economic measures to alleviate the pinch felt by South Africans as a result of fuel hikes and the VAT increase.
The President said he would ask the Ministers in the economic cluster to finalise the package in two weeks.
Commenting, Select Committee Chairperson, Mandla Rayi, said that “it has never happened that a head of state will go this far and this kind of commitment to a nation is most welcome.”
“This is appreciated, especially if one looks at the impact these fuel hikes will have on small struggling businesses. The fuel price hikes were likely to impact negatively on economic growth and menial jobs,” Rayi said.
“Our people reside far from workplaces and that simply means having to spend more on travelling and fuel cost. But also small businesses are the engine of growing the economy and job creation, which are the objectives of this administration,” he said.
