Bad News for Fuel Prices as Treasury Targets Motorists

South Africans are in for another hit to their wallets after Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced an increase to fuel taxes, ending the three-year freeze.

From 4 June 2025, motorists will pay 16 cents more per litre for petrol and 15 cents more for diesel as part of an inflationary adjustment to the general fuel levy.

The Road Freight Association (RFA) has slammed the decision, warning that the increase will have far-reaching consequences for consumers and the logistics sector.

“This will be directly felt by consumers,” said Gavin Kelly, CEO of the RFA.

“Transporters cannot absorb these increases without hurting their sustainability. That means the public will pay more, not just at the pump, but for everything transported by road.”

And that’s most things. About 85% of goods in South Africa move via road freight, meaning price hikes at the pumps quickly translate into higher costs across the board, from groceries to building materials.

Read | Top 10 Countries with the Cheapest Diesel Prices in Africa (May 2025)

The RFA argues that the fuel levy hike, expected to pull in an extra R4 billion, is government’s way of plugging a R75 billion budget hole without cutting wasteful expenditure.

Kelly criticised Treasury for choosing to burden citizens instead of tightening its own belt.

“Government doesn’t have its own money, it uses taxpayers’ money. It’s time they acted with accountability. This is not a good decision, neither in the medium nor the long term,” he said.

Combined with unchanged Road Accident Fund (RAF) and carbon fuel tax levies, total fuel taxes now stand at R6.37 per litre for petrol and R6.24 for diesel, roughly a third of the total fuel price.

While Treasury says the levy freeze was initially meant to offset VAT increases, those VAT hikes have since been scrapped.

Yet here we are, with a new tax burden to carry.

For transporters, the writing is on the wall: higher operating costs. For the everyday South African? Another reason to dig deeper into an already stretched pocket.