Impact of petrol price hikes on South Africans' pockets

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:00]oil crisis may not be overseas oil prices but the government's own economic failures. Petrol has surged to 26 uh rand 63 cents a liter while diesel has crossed the 31 rand mark for the first time ever. Beyond global tensions, analysts warn motorists are paying the price for government debt fuel levies, a struggling road accident fund and years of structural problems in the economy.

[00:00:24]Dehan Sherman from the National Debt Advisor joins me now for more on this. A very good morning to you Dehan and thank you so much for your time. So why are South Africans paying so much more uh for fuel right now and is the Middle East conflict only part of the story?

[00:00:42]Yes. So the Middle East conflict is definitely a contributing factor uh in terms of supply. So obviously it's taken away about 20% of the glo global oil supply and that has huge has had a huge contributing factor in terms of just the the increase in prices that we see today. However, we also have to keep in mind that there are other factors at play here. Everything from uh fuel levies to added taxes to transportation, all these things play a role. And although government has made the decision to place the fuel levies on hold, uh when it does come back, it's going to come back and it's going to hit us where it hurts, uh with the regular fuel levies as they are right now adding a considerable amount of uh money on top of what we're already going to be spending uh on petrol. There's also going to be the attempts to recoup funds that have been lost due to uh placing the fuel less on hold. So it's definitely something that consumers have to keep in mind especially moving forward and even if the war had to end today it may take months to recover.

[00:01:52]>> So what is the slate levy and why are consumers now paying 1 23 rand cents per liter towards a 14.2 billion rand fuel price debt.

[00:02:04]So the slate uh levy is basically a way that government is going to recoup its lost earnings for placing the fuel levy on hold. So of course over the the last few months government has lost out on a considerable amount amount of revenue that it would have made. Uh so now it needs to try and recoup those funds and the only way it can do that is by taxing us unfortunately. So on top of the already existing fuel levies that are going to in place, they're going to add the state levy in order to recoup those funds that they've missed out on.

[00:02:38]>> Now why does the national debt advisor describe this as a household debt crisis and not just a fuel crisis?

[00:02:46]>> Because it affects everything, right? So oil and petrol affect the price of pretty much anything and everything. Uh so that obviously contributes to consumer household expenses and most consumers have to at some point or another uh you know use debt in order to bridge the gap between what they can afford and what they're earning. Now with that being said, the increase in prices also uh drive inflation upwards and we all know that when inflation starts you know running away from us the uh the government tends to increase the interest rates. When interest rates increase, it means that your monthly debt repayments increase, which means less disposable income. So, not only are you going to be spending more on petrol, you're going to be spending more on household goods, you're also going to be spending more on debt within the near future should inflation continue at its current pace.

[00:03:40]>> And as a final thought from you, Dehan, what should overindted consumers do uh before July when the temporary fuel levy relief is expected to end?

[00:03:51]What I suggest all consumers do right now is they redo their entire budget with the current prices as they are. And keep in mind that things are always going to become more expensive. That's just unfortunately a natural uh the natural way of the economy is that inflation is a consistent factor. So always prepare for prices to increase.

[00:04:11]Redo your budget