Remote working the solution to saving and cutting costs, says Duvenage

Is working from home the solution to saving and cutting costs following the recent fuel price increases to more than R26 a litre? Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) CEO Wayne Duvenage said it all came down to curbing travel.

“Remote working is the main area where this could be practised,” he said. “One shudders to think what people would be doing today had the pandemic not come along and forced and fast-tracked us into the use of remote working mindset and use of technology.”

Duvenage said carpooling by people still going to work was another way people could reduce the negative impact of high petrol fuel prices.

“It boils down to reducing unnecessary travel in every way you can,” he said. He said in 2008 motorists paid R10.70/l (95 octanes) while the international oil price of $132 per barrel was somewhat higher than the current $120. “Geopolitical forces have impacted the price of oil forever and a day, causing fluctuations in the price we pay for petrol at the pumps,” he said.

“Our woes of petrol price have everything to do with government policy that has increased the cost of 11 levies and margins well above inflation over many years and reduced the strength of the rand to half of what it was against the US dollar in 2008.”

Duvenage said today’s petrol price would be around R14/l had SA’s political leadership provided certainty and investment-friendly and job-creating economic policies that contained the rand/ dollar exchange rate at 8:1; and if the various fuel levies and taxes increased in line with the annual rate of inflation since 2008.

Democratic Alliance (DA) shadow economical development MEC Makashule Gana said the petrol price was putting a strain on already squeezed consumers.

“The cost of living was rising along with the impact of load shedding, forcing people to look at alternative ways of living and eating.”

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Gana said motorists could save by making essential trips only. “If you are on the route of reliable public transport, use it. Or start a lift club.” He said the DA was still calling for the deregulation of fuel prices and cutting off fuel levies.

Pauline Kempster-Britz said she felt like her company didn’t care and added there was no way it would help compensate for the rise in fuel.

“Since the start of Covid, our salaries were cut and never adjusted again. We have not received an increase since,” she said.

Kempster-Britz said she has been working at home since the start of the lockdown and was told she could use the office during load shedding.

“They feel nothing for us – not for petrol, Covid, for nothing,” she said. Kempster-Britz said fortunately she already lived close to her office.

Ronel Wessels said working from home saved money. “Before Covid, I woke up at 5.15am, now 7am and I spent an average of two and a half hours on the road from Centurion to Pretoria, now I spend zero.”

Wessels said before working remotely, she used more than two tanks of petrol monthly compared to half a tank per month currently.

“I also save money on not buying work clothes and not packing or buying lunch,” she said.

– marizkac@citizen.co.za