{"id":833855,"date":"2025-08-04T17:04:24","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T15:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=833855"},"modified":"2025-08-04T17:04:29","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T15:04:29","slug":"mantashes-warning-to-petrol-stations-across-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/833855\/mantashes-warning-to-petrol-stations-across-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Mantashe’s warning to petrol stations across South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe has warned petrol stations across South Africa that regular and random fuel testing will continue to filter out those who adulterate fuel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Replying to a recent parliamentary Q&A session, Mantashe highlighted that the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR) is intensifying efforts to enforce fuel quality compliance in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Department has established a fuel sampling and testing programme, mandated by the Regulations Regarding Petroleum Products Specifications and Standards,\u201d Mantashe said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs part of this programme, both random and scheduled fuel sampling and testing are conducted to verify compliance with the minimum specifications and standards at retail and wholesale depot outlets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that the initiative operates independently from the petroleum industry\u2019s own monitoring systems and is part of a broader strategy to stamp out fuel adulteration, especially the illegal mixing of diesel with paraffin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The practice has become widespread due to the significant price gap between the two fuels. Paraffin is around R6 to R7 cheaper per litre and is not taxed, making it an attractive target for criminals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mantashe emphasised the collaboration between the DMPR and the South African Revenue Service (SARS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Department, in collaboration with SARS, is responsible for ensuring that fuel distributed in the country complies with national fuel specifications and standards.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A key tool in this process is the Authentix A1 Marker, a multi-layered chemical security solution used to trace illuminating paraffin (IP) throughout the fuel supply chain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This marker is required by the Customs and Excise Act and enables authorities to detect fuel tampering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFuel distributed by licensed wholesalers and retailers, particularly illuminating paraffin, is marked with the Authentix A1 Marker,\u201d Mantashe said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis allows us to detect and trace the presence of paraffin in diesel and enforce compliance in accordance with the Petroleum Products Act.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In cases where petrol stations are non-compliant, Mantashe assured that a fair process is followed. \u201cThis process allows any allegedly non-compliant service station to make representations,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn doing so, considerations such as job security and the security of fuel supply may be brought to the attention of the Controller.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consumer rights are also considered under the National Consumer Protection Act to ensure appropriate remedial action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A growing problem <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The warning comes amid growing concern over South Africa\u2019s contaminated diesel problem, which is part of a larger illicit fuel industry costing the fiscus an estimated R3.6 billion annually. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to SARS, the illegal mixing and smuggling of fuel, especially diesel adulterated with paraffin, damages vehicles and machinery and undermines the country\u2019s revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SARS has reported extensive under-declaration of imported fuel. \u201cSome importers declare 40,000 litres, when in fact up to 60,000 litres are being brought in,\u201d the revenue service said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, many storage and distribution depots across the country have been implicated in fuel adulteration practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avhapfani Tshifularo, executive director of the South African Petroleum Association, also warned<\/a><\/strong> that the problem is widespread.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe blending of tax-free paraffin with diesel has become one of the most common practices in the illicit trade,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paraffin, intended primarily for household use, is supposed to be marked with a tracer dye to prevent abuse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Tshifularo explained that criminal networks have found ways to launder out the marker and then blend the paraffin with diesel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey set up massive operations to remove the marker. Once removed, the paraffin is mixed with diesel and sold at attractive prices, but it is harmful in the long run,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tshifularo pointed to a sharp rise in paraffin sales as an indicator of the scale of the issue. \u201cFive years ago, annual paraffin sales were about 600 million litres,\u201d He said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs of December 2024, it\u2019s easily 1.2 billion litres,\u201d suggesting that a significant portion of this increase may enter the diesel supply chain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He advised South Africans to be cautious when purchasing fuel. \u201cDiesel is not regulated at the forecourt,\u201d Tshifularo explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He urged motorists to avoid unusually cheap diesel and instead buy from reputable service stations affiliated with major oil companies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gwede Mantashe has warned petrol stations across South Africa that the department is intensifying efforts to enforce fuel quality compliance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":834005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[20686,17963,853],"class_list":["post-833855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-department-of-mineral-and-petroleum-resources","tag-parliamentary-qa","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=833855"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":833867,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833855\/revisions\/833867"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/834005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}