Durban - A group of activists belonging to the #FuelPricesMusFall campaign held a placard awareness demonstration at the busy intersection of Sandile Thusi Road and the M4 on Monday.
Although small in number, the activists who switched off their car engines for 10 minutes got the moral backing of many passing motorists who hooted in support.
While it was not the turnout they expected, People Against Petrol and Parrafin Increases (Pappi) convenor, Visvin Reddy, who led the placard protest said the organisation planned to meet with all political party leaders to commit to the #FuelPricesMusFall campaign.
"We urge people to wear black clothing to symbolize their support for the campaign. On Tuesday, Pappi will send a letter to the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, requesting to meet with a delegation from Pappi within seven days. This is not an unreasonable request as the fuel price increases are opposed by the majority of South Africans and anger is mounting. If a solution is not found the country will go up in flames. This is what we want to avoid," Reddy said.
Reddy called on all South Africans to join in the campaign to bring fuel prices down.
Caption: Fuel prices must fall placard awareness campaign along Sandile Thusi and M4 in Durban. Pictures by Visvin Reddy
The price of 93-octane petrol - both unleaded (ULP) and lead replacement (LRP) - will go up by 26c/litre and 95-octane (ULP andLRP) by 23c/litre.
Diesel 0.05% sulphur will rise by 26c/litre and diesel 0.005% sulphur by 24c/litre on Wednesday. The wholesale price of illuminating paraffin will rise by 22c/litre and the single maximum national retail price (SMNRP) by 30c/litre. The maximum retail price for LP gas will increase by 37c/kg.
Reddy said that while they understood that a portion of the money used to buy petrol went towards levies, they didn’t agree with the Road Accident Fund(RAF) getting a percentage of this money as well.