Fuel costs under the spotlight
3 July 2009
South Africa's Department of Energy is to call a summit to discuss the rising costs of fuel.
Energy Minister Dipuo Peters would call the summit of all stakeholders to discuss the rising prices of all fuel, not only petrol, ministry spokesperson Bheki Khumalo said on Thursday.
Subsidising the price of some fuels was not on the cards, however. "I can rule out any subsidies," Khumalo said.
Any discussion on a change in the government's current formula of petrol price determination would include the country's unions.
"And the summit won't only be about fuel prices, it will also discuss the Liquid Fuels Charter." While the minister was pleased with the progress the charter had made, she was "far from satisfied" with the charter in general, Khumalo said.
Last month, Peters told the African Energy and Mineral Forum that the work that had been done on the actual implementation of the charter was "not very impressive".
She said two evaluations conducted to measure progress on implementation of the charter's provisions indicated that the industry had not been able to comply with the crucial elements of ownership, control and procurement.
The Liquid Fuels Charter, signed in 2004, was designed to put 25 percent of South Africa's liquid fuels industry in the hands of historically disadvantaged people by late 2010.
The department would announce the date of the summit soon.
Sapa
