I don't know if you guys know what I mean when I say that international conglomerates are holding the country to ransom.
You see, almost all the petroleum refineries in this country are run by international conglomerates. This means that we cannot cope without them and they know it.
Now, over the years the refining process and purity of fuels have increased world-wide - with Europe having legislated some of the cleanest fuels in the world. The thing with purer fuels however is that it doesn't react with your engine the same as it does with the more dirty variety. This means that your car engine needs to be design for a certain purity of fuel. The South African market have some of the most dirty fuels known to the industrialised world. This means that car engines need to be specifically designed for South Africa, which is why cars are so heinously expensive and why it's almost impossible for our car manufacturing industry to get anywhere (as it can only sell local or export).
Why am I telling you this? You see, the conglomerates refuse to enhance the purity of their fuels and overhaul their refineries. Why not just legislate it then? The conglomerates have threatened to withdraw from the country if such legislation should come to pass. What is the government to do? Not only are these conglomerates with-holding cleaner fuels from us, but they make us pay twice as much for motor-vehicles as we should. If that wasn't the only problem this actually causes more old road vehicles on the street, which are all basically death traps waiting to fall apart.