Mantashe blames high fuel prices on NGOs that 'block development'

ANC national chair Gwede Mantashe is calling for a campaign against non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that “block development”, saying they were costing the country.

NGOs have been a thorn in the ANC-led government's side, having previously taken several ministers and departments, including Mantashe’s energy and mineral resources department, to court over several issues including foreign nationals and fuel exploration.

Home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi is in a court battle with the Helen Suzman Foundation over the deportation of more than 178,000 Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP) holders. Environmental organisations have also taken Mantashe’s department to court over Shell’s seismic blasting on the Wild Coast as well as the Turkish Karpowership deal.

Italian oil giants Eni pulled out of the country in 2021 after NGOs objected to its plans to drill for oil and gas along the KwaZulu-Natal coast, a joint project with Sasol.

The company took its plans to Ivory Coast with a planned R180m investment.

Mantashe said that such actions by NGOs were prohibiting development in the country.

If Eni was allowed to explore for fuel off the KZN coast, prices would not be as exorbitant, alluded Mantashe.

“Eni was drilling in this ocean and was taken to court 47 times. It packed its money and its bags, sent them to Ivory Coast and discovered a lot of oil there. It's working there. We are importing that fuel today,” he said.

“If we discover ours (oil) at least we’ll have an option of saying this is our own oil, this is what we want to do.”

South Africans needed to campaign against NGOs that were blocking development, Mantashe said.

“Society must be mobilised for their own development so you don’t wait for NGOs which are foreign-funded. Many of them don’t know the area, but they take over and give you people some change and those people join them in the protest against development. That issue is a campaign on its own that we must pursue.”

Mantashe was speaking on the sidelines of his door-to-door campaign in Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal, on Thursday.

During his engagement with community members at a local taxi rank, Mantashe was asked about the high fuel cost. He said it was high because plans to explore fuel sources, including by Eni, were blocked by NGOs through the courts.

“We have to drill here at home and find our own fuel,” he said to a taxi operator. “When NGOs are taking us for a ride, you keep quiet. When they are taking us to court when we want to drill, you keep quiet.”

Mantashe has been an adamant critic of NGOs and recently called for them to disclose their funders. He has previously been in dispute with NGOs over the push to move South Africa from fossil fuel to renewables.

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