AfriForum has filed a Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia) request with the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE), seeking information about South Africa’s strategic fuel reserves.
This comes amid a worsening global energy crisis due to the escalating US-Israeli war against Iran.
Experts have expressed concern about the fact that South Africa may have just two to three weeks of fuel reserves left with prices set to surge in April.
“This is far below global benchmarks, which require reserves for at least 90 days. The government insists there is no cause for panic but continues to refuse to disclose the state of the nation’s fuel reserves,” AfriForum said on Tuesday.
AfriForum spokesperson, Ernst van Zyl, said the Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF) ‘Oilgate’ scandal from 2016 had become a hotly debated issue again 10 years later as uncertainty and secrecy surrounded the status of South Africa’s strategic fuel reserves.
“Many people have forgotten that in 2015/2016 the ANC-led South African government sold over 10 million barrels of the country’s strategic oil reserves and got ripped off in the process,” Van Zyl said.
The deal was fraught with irregularities and secrecy. In 2020 the Western Cape High Court overturned the sales, ruling they were illegal, invalid and marred with corruption.
In its Paia application, AfriForum has requested the DMRE to provide the following information:
*The most recent official documented quantities of South Africa’s proven, probable and possible strategic fuel reserves.
*A year-by-year breakdown of fluctuations in South Africa’s strategic fuel reserves over the past 10 years, including any changes in classification or reporting methodology.
* A year-by-year account of how South Africa’s strategic fuel reserves have been used over the past 10 years, including quantities released or consumed annually, the purposes for which reserves were used (for example, strategic supply, emergencies, market stabilisation, sale or other uses) and any policies or decisions guiding such usage.
* Any internal or commissioned reports discussing energy security in relation to strategic fuel reserves.
* Information on partnerships or collaborations with international entities regarding strategic fuel reserves development.
* Any policies or frameworks governing the disclosure, classification or confidentiality of strategic fuel reserves data.
Earlier this month AfriForum urged Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, to provide relief to the economy and consumers by cutting the fuel levy.
