SA Dirty Fuel - Is 'Cleaning' It Counter Productive?

All the recent flooding aside for now, this winter it has ALSO become apparent to us Capetonians just how dirty our air is becoming. With the brown haze on still sunny days being thicker than ever before, we wonder how much more our health would be affected if we didn't have the help of the "Cape Doctor" (wind) blowing some of the pollution away. This Engineering News article takes a look at how local SA fuel producers (the petroleum industry being one of the major contributors to air pollution and carbon emissions) are producing some of the dirtiest fuel in the world, while giving reasons such as the following two for not yet making changes:- 1. Legislative uncertainty regarding future clean fuel specifications; 2. Higher energy requirements in the production of cleaner fuels (which results in higher carbon emissions in the production process). Knowing that petroleum is in limited supply, non-renewable and dirty, is industry/government just going to wait for a crisis before looking SERIOUSLY at alternative (sustainable) clean technologies (nevermind trying to 'clean' the dirty fuel)?