SOUTH AFRICA – Escalating fuel prices are devastating a transport industry that had barely recovered from the restrictions imposed during Covid-19 lockdowns. Drivers and owners of minibus taxis, metered taxis and those in the e-hailing industry in South Africa are feeling the pinch.
“The problem we are facing is petrol, especially for bigger cars. Every person who is using a Toyota Quest and all the bigger cars, we are facing a major challenge because ipetrol iyasibulala (petrol prices are killing us). So, we are just working to survive,” says Mlungisi Mokoena*, who has been an Uber driver for seven years.
The price of petrol is expected to increase by R2.25 in June. On top of this, the National Treasury is reinstating the R1.50 per litre general fuel levy that it suspended in April and May, pushing the cost up further.
“It’s an unprecedented situation that we find ourselves in as an industry,” says Theo Malele of the National Taxi Alliance.
Mokoena spends well over R3 000 a week on fuel. “To make your day’s target, you must spend money on petrol. By the time you make R1 000, you have already spent a lot of money on petrol. I have two children and a wife. I am the only one who works. I must pay school fees monthly. It is difficult to manage all these things.”
Escalating fuel prices and the documented exploitation of e-hailing drivers forced them to take to the streets in March. They went on strike to call for an increase in fares, so they can earn a decent living. The South African Taxi Association has said it is looking into increasing fares, given the rapid rise in the price of petrol. Malele says that as an industry, they are left with no choice.
The strain on the industry has been compounded by the pandemic, during which millions of jobs have been lost. International Labour Organization director general Guy Ryder says in the World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2021 report that “the salient impact of the Covid-19 crisis has been the worsening of long-standing structural challenges and inequalities in the world of work, undermining recent progress in poverty reduction, gender equality and decent work”.
Global unemployment for 2022 is expected to surpass the 2019 level of 187 million people to around 205 million people, says the report. Young people, mostly from the Global South, are affected most. In South Africa, the unemployment rate among young people is at a staggering 65.5%.
