Energy

More bad news about petrol prices in South Africa

Staff Writer

 ·17 Sep 2026

Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Gwede Mantashe, says there are currently no interventions planned to help curb rising fuel prices in the country.

This, as daily recoveries are putting petrol prices on the path to hit over R29.50 per litre in October.

Responding to a parliamentary Q&A this week, Mantashe said that the department continues to administer fuel prices as prescribed by legislation.

He added that the department is currently reviewing the regulatory accounting system, which will ultimately adjust margins across the fuel chain.

This is expected to be completed by March 2027.

However, he said that the basic fuel price component of the price structure is currently driving the rise, driven by geopolitical volatility.

This external impact is outside of South Africa’s control.

Mantashe’s comments follow statements from Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana last week that the National Treasury’s hands are also tied when it comes to offering South Africans relief.

While the Treasury could ease the burden on motorists by cutting the fuel tax components of prices—as it did in April 2026—this would come at a cost.

According to Godongwana, cutting the tax component would remove billions from the budget in foregone tax revenue.

This would then have to be recovered from elsewhere: cutting department budgets, raising other taxes or turning to more borrowing.

The April 2026 tax relief cost the budget over R17 billion.

While Godongwana has not explicitly dismissed the notion of another bout of temporary relief, economists say it is unlikely.

The Finance Minister has explicitly stated that the government cannot fully insulate consumers from the fuel price crisis, and that doing so is not the purpose of the budget.

Godongwana stressed that fiscal policy is meant to support sustainable public finances, debt stabilisation, and measures to promote economic growth.

“Responding to cost-of-living pressures arising from external shocks is therefore part of a broader whole-of-government programme and depends on the effective implementation of these measures,” he said.

Petrol prices heading to R30 per litre

With both the DMPR and Treasury dimming hopes for any relief, South African motorists are facing record-high fuel prices in October.

The daily updates on fuel price recoveries from the Central Energy Fund (CEF) are heading deeper into the red, adding around 30 cents per litre to under-recoveries over the past three days.

Motorists now face a petrol price hike of between R2.47 and R2.62 per litre, with diesel in a similar space, at between R2.42 and R2.81 per litre.

At the current recovery levels, petrol prices could escalate to R29.54 per litre—a disastrous outcome for motorists.

Petrol prices broke the worst-ever levels in June 2026 after the shocks of the Iran War filtered through global energy markets.

The June 2026 price surpassed the previous record of R26.74 per litre reached in July 2022, when global oil markets were shaken by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Both the Iran War and Russia’s war with Ukraine are ongoing.

The picture for diesel prices is also bad. With the wholesale price of 0.005% diesel at R30.05, October could set a new worst-ever level of R32.86 per litre.

Before 2026, the highest per-litre diesel price was R25.53, recorded in July 2022.

The table below outlines the escalating price changes this year.