The PSA’s demands on the government come in the context of escalating fuel prices over the past six months, which have had a multiplier effect on the cost of living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rising fuel prices directly increase the cost of transport, food, and other household expenses, with all South Africans bearing the burden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“These increases represent a further significant erosion of disposable income, and place additional pressure on workers who rely on private vehicles to travel to and from work\u2014particularly those serving in rural and poorly serviced areas,” the union said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added that lower- and middle-income workers have limited capacity to absorb the costs, with the prices of electricity, education, housing, and other essentials also rising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the fuel prices rising, many workers are moving to a situation where they’re effectively paying to work, with transport costs eating into what little income they have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government intervened amid rising fuel prices earlier in the year, when the National Treasury removed R3.00 per litre from fuel levies in April and May 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These levies were then added back over June and July when global oil price pressure started easing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While this was a temporary measure to deliver immediate relief, the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources said it was also reviewing the local fuel price mechanism over the longer term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, this process is only expected to be completed by March 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The review will look at how industry margins are calculated in South Africa. This includes wholesale margins, retail margins, secondary storage, and secondary distribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since prices started escalating in March 2026, petrol and diesel prices are now close to R7 and R12 per litre higher, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This surge in prices has begun to filter through the economy, with consumer inflation expected to return to 5% and producer inflation also expected to rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These factors are being assessed by the South African Reserve Bank, which may still hike interest rates in September or November, adding even more pressure on households with debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Post-Iran War price adjustments<\/h2>\n\n\n\nMonth<\/th> Petrol 95<\/th> Diesel 0.005%<\/th><\/tr><\/thead> March<\/td> +R0.20<\/mark><\/td>+R0.65<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>April<\/td> +R3.06<\/mark><\/td>+R7.51<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>May<\/td> +R3.27<\/mark><\/td>+R5.27<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>June<\/td> +R1.43<\/mark><\/td>-R2.62<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>July<\/td> -R1.96<\/mark><\/td>-R3.59<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>August<\/td> -R0.52<\/mark><\/td>+R1.23<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>September<\/td> +R1.34<\/mark><\/td>+R3.15<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>Total difference<\/strong><\/td>+R6.82<\/strong><\/td>+R11.60<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe Public Servants Association has called for urgent measures to cushion South Africans from the massive petrol price hikes being implemented this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":856572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2094735718857756798","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2192760604877672","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18378509581231933","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[3796,2171,17521],"class_list":["post-873087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-national-treasury","tag-petrol-price","tag-psa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873087","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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873087"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":873100,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873087\/revisions\/873100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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