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Interesting local media news, there's an article on IOL about how the CEO of the AA is threatening to blockade the highways over the fuel price hikes, which sounds very unlikely to me.

I can't find any mention of this anywhere else, it's not on the AA's own website, or in their press releases or blogs, but I seem to recall IOL having a history of completely fabricating bullshit stories from time to time. Only other places I've found this story are a small independent news blog (sole source: the IOL article), and MSN (syndicating the original article)

Also found a number of more reasonable sounding articles that sound similar but don't threaten to blockade roads, but those date back a full year, so aren't related.

So: Has anybody heard anything about this? Am I right about it being nonsense?

#SouthAfrica

#southafrica
This entry was edited (2 days ago)
in reply to Allen but one of the good ones

Paul Chambers🚧
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Paul Chambers🚧
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I did a search using his name, "Bobby Ramagwede" and prices and blockade and some results popped up for me from like Facebook and IG, but I didn't do an indepth search or go to those sites to see if there were news sources attached to the search result previews. Other than that, it sounds like my search results here in the US, even with his name, are same as yours
This entry was edited (2 days ago)
in reply to Allen but one of the good ones

cuan_knaggs
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cuan_knaggs
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seems it was a direct IOL interview but can't find anymore on it. i did find an interview on jacaranda from a few days ago with him saying that it could be an option
in reply to Allen but one of the good ones

cuan_knaggs
mastodon - Link to source
cuan_knaggs
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jacarandafm.com/shows/drive/au… it's a quick comment just after 10 min into an 11 min talk

Automobile Association CEO gives honest answers to fuel price questions

How much will fuel prices rise? Why are petrol stations already pushing up diesel prices? And other South African fuel questions answered.
Jacaranda FM
in reply to Allen but one of the good ones

Allen but one of the good ones
mastodon - Link to source
Allen but one of the good ones
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@mensrea Ah okay, see there's a very long walk from "We will have to mobilize" to "We will ally with the taxi associations to blockade national highways".

On the other hand... who knows, maybe he got angry and escalated in the IOL interview *shrug*

@cuan_knaggs
in reply to Allen but one of the good ones

Allen but one of the good ones
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Allen but one of the good ones
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@mensrea Also... the guy doesn't seem to understand what a sorry state our national oil reserves are in: we keep a 21 day's supply of oil, but that's mostly unrefined crude, and only half the refineries in the country are still operating (largely due to oil companies who own them making the financial decision to simply import refined fuels rather than spend the money to upgrade the old refineries to be compliant with environmental regulations)

defenceweb.co.za/governance/go…


South Africa faces a fuel cliff amid the Middle East crisis

The ongoing war between the United States (US), Israel and Iran in the Middle East has continued into its second week, raising the economic threat this
Executive Research Associates (DefenceWeb)
@cuan_knaggs
in reply to Allen but one of the good ones

adritheonly
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adritheonly
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@mensrea Sounds like the kind of report that would have originated with Uncle Gwede. I wonder who exactly Executive Research Associates are and how much they were paid for this report?
@cuan_knaggs
in reply to adritheonly

Allen but one of the good ones
mastodon - Link to source
Allen but one of the good ones
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@adritheonly @mensrea I dunno, given that all the broken things in that report are Gweezy's direct responsibility as the energy minister, it makes him look like a bit of a failure.
@cuan_knaggs @adritheonly
in reply to Allen but one of the good ones

adritheonly
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adritheonly
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@mensrea True, unless you look at the Energy ministry's history with the Environmental Ministry, especially under Creecy. He's prob. still sore about his favorite gas and nuclear projects being stopped. I think we can all agree that until he is retired, nothing we read can be taken at face value. This country should focus on making EV and solar affordable but that fossil has blocked almost all progress.
@cuan_knaggs
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