The City of Tshwane (CoT) is believed to have hired a private company to manage Wonderboom Airport in contravention of City procurement rules and policies.
Wonderboom Airport is owned by the City that holds the airport licence from the SA Civil Aviation Authority and is deemed to be an asset of the City.
In terms of the licence and the Civil Aviation Regulations, a senior person – an individual – must be appointed as the accountable manager or compliance officer.
Instead, the City hired a private company in 2017 to manage the airport and who then appointed one of their own employees as the airport manager. The licence conditions were not amended to allow for this.
The appointment of a private company to manage the airport was made in November 2017, however, the appointment was subject to the drafting and signing by both parties of the Service Level Agreement (SLA) before any work could commence. The private company commenced its work in November 2017 but the SLA was only signed by both parties six months later, in June 2018. The Auditor General’s (AG) report on the CoT shows that all payments from November 2017 to June 2018 was classified as irregular expenditure.
This contributed to the AG’s finding of the CoT’s R5 billion irregular expenditure in its most recent financial audit report.
By June 2019, there were four levies and taxes on fuel.
The general fuel levy: In 2007/8 this was R1.21/l on petrol and R1.05/l on diesel. Since April 2021, it has been R3.85/l on petrol an R3.70/l on diesel (no increase in 2022 or 2023).
The Road Accident Fund (RAF) levy: In 2007/8 this was 41.5c/l for petrol and diesel. Since April 2021, it has been R2.18/l (no increase in 2022 or 2023).
The customs and excise levy: This has been 4c/l for more than a decade.
The carbon tax: This was introduced from June 2019, at 7c/l for petrol and 8c/l for diesel. From April 2023, it was 10c/l for petrol and 11c/l for diesel.
July 2018: OUTA starts calling for the reduction of the general fuel levy. OUTA joined other civil society groups in a public protest in Church Square in Pretoria, handing over a memorandum to the National Treasury which called for a R1 per litre reduction in the levy.
December 2021: OUTA writes to Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana, calling for a halt to the annual increase in fuel levies, announced in the Budget in February each year. These increases have averaged 8.5% a year over the past decade, by now reaching a total of more than R10 a litre. “Instead of reaching out to extract higher taxes from the citizens every year, government should look for savings and improved productivity and other efficiencies within the state’s spending and processes,” wrote OUTA in the letter. “To add another hike in fuel taxes in 2022 would be a slap in the face of overstretched citizens and would add more burden to everyone in the country”. By the end of the year, petrol was R20 a litre.
23 February 2022: For the first time, the national Budget does not include an increase in either the general fuel levy or the RAF levy.
31 March 2022: Minister Godongwana announces that the general fuel levy will be temporarily reduced by R1.50 a litre from 6 April 2022 until 31 May 2022. OUTA welcomed this (see here).
18 May 2022: OUTA calls on the minister to further extend the fuel levy relief due to the escalating price of fuel (see here).
31 May 2022: The minister announces an extension of relief: the reduction of R1.50 a litre continued to 6 July, then it would be reduced by 75c/l until 2 August 2022 and, from 3 August, all relief would end. See here and here.
1 June 2022: OUTA welcomes the extension of the temporary relief, and calls on government to review all aspects of the fuel price as indicated in Budget 2022 in February. See here.
Despite further calls, the reduction was not extended.
22 February 2023: For the second consecutive year, the Budget did not include an increase in either the general fuel levy or the RAF levy. In addition, the diesel fuel levy refund was extended to food manufacturers for two years, from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2025.
