South Africa High Court dismissed a lawsuit filed by the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party that sought to stop the government from raising fuel levies.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana proposed the higher charges last month in his third attempt to present an annual Budget that can secure parliamentary approval. Previous iterations were rejected by the Democratic Alliance, the second-largest party in the nation’s 10-party coalition government, because they proposed hiking value-added tax.

The EFF, South Africa’s fourth-largest party, argued that raising fuel costs would hurt the poorest South Africans and undermine economic growth, and that proper procedures weren’t followed to introduce additional taxes.

This article was first published by News24