Image: Engineering News
Local – Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced a temporary cut to the fuel levy on Wednesday, when he tabled the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement. The levy will fall by R1.50 a litre on petrol and R3 a litre on diesel from 4 November to 1 December 2026, with smaller cuts continuing until 5 January 2027. The relief will cost R10 billion in forgone revenue.
The announcement came as Cry of the Xcluded prepared to march on National Treasury with communities from across Gauteng, calling for an end to austerity and a people-driven budget. The group’s representative, Peter Monethe, said soaring prices and worsening unemployment had left communities in crisis.
“…the economy itself, I mean things are just getting higher and higher. We saw the petrol getting to [R30 a litre], and there’s no employment. So those kinds of crisis, we can see that any time, I mean we are in a ticking bomb.”
Treasury Calls It Discipline, Activists Call It Austerity
Godongwana defended the fiscal discipline of recent years, saying government could not fund every demand at once without risking the country’s financial future. He said the approach was paying off, with debt now falling and the social wage making up 60% of non-interest spending.
Monethe rejected this, saying ending austerity was the group’s first demand, alongside spending on health, education, security and housing. He said municipal loans, such as those taken by the City of Johannesburg, had benefited elites, politicians and their families rather than communities.
“That is why we are also advocating for this austerity to end because austerity is our worst nightmare here is the one that is, you know, running the show. And when we talk about the austerity, we can’t separate austerity from the treasury itself because they are the ones who are taking these loans.”
Housing Grant Cut As Promised Homes Fail To Materialise
The minister also cut R7.8 billion from the human settlements development grant, saying inefficiencies and rent-seeking meant less was spent on building houses. A Treasury review of infrastructure grants found that projects were often delayed, incomplete or failed to deliver the intended benefits.
Monethe said the problem was visible on the ground, accusing officials of selling RDP houses to their families and friends. He pointed to the Southern Farms development in Johannesburg South as an example of housing that had not been delivered.
“…that initiative started way back in 2016 but … it was budgeted 27 billion, but I can tell you till today it hasn’t materialised; all we are seeing is contractors coming to our respective areas and start building the infrastructure; no one is being consulted.”
