South Africans were always going to pay

ON JUNE 4, the fuel levy increase announced in Budget 3.0 quietly took effect: 16 cents per litre for petrol and 15 cents for diesel.

- TARA ROOS

A legal challenge mounted by the EFF sought to suspend and ultimately overturn the increase, claiming it was irrational, procedurally flawed, and unjust. But the court was unconvinced. The levy stands. The case was lost. And so, South Africans are paying more at the pump, a symbol of a deeper truth: the nation's fiscal crisis was never going to be painless, and someone was always going to bear the cost.

The framing now shifts from whether the increase would happen to what its smooth implementation signals about South Africa's fiscal direction. The Standing Committee on Finance has already passed the revised fiscal framework, and with a vote in the National Assembly yesterday, it is all but certain that Budget 3.0 will pass without the political drama that accompanied its predecessors. The public outcry that greeted Budget 2.0 has faded. Parliament is weary, and Treasury is resolute.