“Our Consumer Affairs Department met with the Minibus Association just to hear their concerns… but I don’t set fuel prices and I’m not the Minister responsible for fixing minibus fares”. Those were the words of Business Minister Dominic Gaskin as he was questioned by reporters on Monday, as it relates to the woes of the public transportation sector.
The Minister said the Consumer Affairs Department within his Ministry met with the United Minibus Union (UMU), “just to hear their concerns and they have provided a proposal to the Consumer’s Department, to me”. 
The Minister went further to say, “We just intervened from a consumer point of view to find out what the real concerns were and to engage them because it’s an important sector…and we can’t have people out there protesting when all that is required is some sort of proper engagement”.
In the same breath, the Minister sought to clarify that he is not responsible for setting fuel prices and bus fares. Moreover, he said the proposal which was submitted to his Ministry will be shared with the respective Ministers who will then carry the burden of introducing the said proposal to Cabinet.
“They have provided a proposal, I will share it with the responsible Ministers and then some one of them will make a proposal to Cabinet as to what we should do because there are a number of options and different options come under different ministers’ responsibilities so it’s not a done deal as yet,” Gaskin posited.
Along with the proposal for a fare hike, the President of the UMU, Eon Andrews also reportedly requested the ban on used tyres to be lifted and the introduction of a five-year moratorium on the importation of minibuses among others.
The fare increase proposal comes at a time where minibus and taxi drivers have been protesting and even striking about the climbing gas prices.
Desperate to get the attention they need, drivers blocked the Vryheid’s Lust access road along the East Coast railway embankment. Several tyres were burnt, and an old car was set on fire to garner the attention needed, with the hope of having the fuel crisis addressed.
Several protests were also organised by drivers of the various routes subsequent to this incident. Gas station prices for fuel have increased rapidly, from $215 per litre to prices ranging from $230 to $250 per litre.
