Postponed: Deliberations on the Gas Amendment Bill; Discussion on the fuel price

Meeting report

The Committee was scheduled to deliberate on the Gas Amendment Bill. However, the Chairperson proposed that the deliberations be postponed. He said that in terms of the parliamentary programme, the Committee was scheduled to meet one more time the following week before Parliament went into recess for two months. However mini-plenary sessions were scheduled for the same day, meaning that the current meeting would in effect be the last before the break. It would be cumbersome to deliberate for only one day and then come back to the Bill later on. He proposed that the Committee should rather find time to finalise its report on a visit to the Koeberg nuclear power station.

For dealing with the legislation, he presented a draft programme of meetings on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for the period from 28 June to 20 July. If Members agreed, the programme would be submitted to the House Chairperson for approval on the basis that the legislation should be prioritised. 

 Mr J Lorimer (DA) said that he had no objections to meeting during the parliamentary break. However, he would be unable to attend the first meetings because of other commitments. Starting on 5 July and ending on 27 June 2022 would be much better. 
 
Mr M Mahlaule (ANC) said he had no objections to the recommendation by the Chairperson. He had previously been worried about the manner in which the deliberations had been scheduled. Breaks in the discussions would have made it difficult to deal consistently with the complicated matters involved. .
 
 Ms P Madokwe (EFF) said she supported the recommendation as it made logical sense and there was no reason to object to it.  
 
The Chairperson said that, on that note, the Committee would meet for deliberations on 5 July 2022, taking into account Mr Lorimer’s suggestion.  
 
Mr T Langa (EFF) said that he was concerned about increases in the fuel price. When there were challenges with loadshedding, the Committee would go on oversight visits to the power stations or Eskom. The fuel price hike would have severe implications for the country. He suggested that the Committee should be briefed on the matter and what the plans were for dealing with it.
 
The Chairperson said that the Committee had had engagements with the relevant stakeholders on the fuel price issue before. The Committee had made observations and recommendations on the presentations by those stakeholders. The report had been adopted and was currently in the hands of the relevant people. Therefore, it would be difficult to make changes to that report. 
 
Ms V Malinga (ANC) said that what Mr Langa was trying to say was what did the Committee plan to do about the fuel price hike?

Mr Langa agreed that that was exactly what he was trying to say. 
 
Mr V Zungula (ATM) said appreciated Mr Langa raising this issue. The Committee had to do something about the fuel price hike as it was very concerning.  
 
Mr Mahlaule said he also supported Mr Langa. The Committee must take action and decide what it was going to do about the fuel price hike. It was worrying that South Africa purchased oil from European countries while there was oil in Nigeria. The Committee must get an understanding of why the country was doing that, as it would be cheaper to buy oil from neighbouring countries. 
 
Ms Madokwe said that the fuel price hike was a very urgent matter and the Committee should be advised on what needed to be done about it. The Committee must indeed act on this matter. 
 
Mr Lorimer said that he agreed with the other Members. However, it would help for the Committee to discuss this matter after the debate the following week. In getting information, there were two streams to look into. One was the supply of crude oil. Certain types of crude oil were better for South African refineries than other types. That could be the reason why the county was buying oil from European countries. The Committee could also get information from the Department of Transport on issues such as the Road Accident Fund levy and possibly ask the Treasury as well about the taxing of fuel. 
 
The Chairperson said that he was not quite sure what the procedure was for a matter such as this but he agreed that the Committee must do something about the fuel price hike. The question was whether the problem was with refineries or with the capacity of refineries.

He said the point that Mr Mahlaule was raising had been responded to by Mr Tseliso Maqubela of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy who had explained how the fuel price determination was made regardless of where oil was bought.

The Committee could convene a meeting with Treasury and the Department of Transport while it waited for the National Assembly to deal with the report on the Committee’s fuel price hearings. The Committee could then decide whether it should make additional recommendations. However, he was not sure whether the rules of Parliament would allow such a process.     
 
Adv Frank Jenkins, Senior Parliamentary Legal Advisor, said that the Committee was in charge of its own procedure. The Committee could decide when it wanted to do its work.
 
The Chairperson said that the Committee would, then, send emergency invitations to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy and National Treasury to determine what it would do about the fuel price hike. Invitations could also be extended to the relevant executive authorities and departments. 
 
The proposal was adopted by the Committee.  
 
The meeting was adjourned.