Fuel levy increase officially starts today

 Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana's court victory on Tuesday means motorists will be forking out more for petrol and diesel from Wednesday.

The increase, however, coincides with June's fuel price adjustment, which will see petrol prices going down by five cents a litre and diesel drops by 37 cents a litre, offering motorists a slight reprieve from the hiked levy.

This levy increase comes despite cries from the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) that the increase would hit the poorest the most and would only bring in a few billion rands in revenue.The EFF hauled Godongwana to court over the fuel levy increase announced in his budget in May, which will see petrol increasing by 16 cents per litre and diesel by 15 cents per litre.

The Western Cape High Court on Tuesday dismissed the EFF's application to suspend the increase and also review the minister’s decision.

The EFF was also slapped with a costs order.

 EFF counsel, Advocate Mfesane ka-Siboto, told the court that the levy was a tax and Minister Godongwana must go through Parliament to get it ratified. "You cannot increase tax or fuel levy without parliamentary oversight."

But Godongwana’s counsel, Advocate Kameel Premhid, told the court that the levy increase was more of a regulation as opposed to a tax. "This architecture, which I’m saying to the court, demonstrates that what the minister does is not a tax and doesn’t have to go through a section 77 process and so on."

He also argued that the EFF had failed to list the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources as a respondent since it was the one that implemented any fuel increase.

Motorists can expect a fuel levy decrease later in this year.

Done by: Shaneca Cupido