Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana yesterday cut the fuel levy, the tax collected on every litre of fuel sold, by R3 a litre for diesel and R1.50 a litre for petrol. The cut applies from 4 November, the day of the local government elections, until 1 December. A smaller cut of R1.50 for diesel and R1 for petrol will then run until 5 January 2027.

Godongwana announced the relief in Parliament in his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement yesterday, the mid-year update on the government’s finances. “Geopolitical conflict has pushed up global oil prices and led to a sharp rise in the cost of living for businesses and households,” he said. Petrol and diesel prices have reached record highs since conflict in the Middle East closed the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for oil exports.

The relief will cost R10 billion in lost revenue. Godongwana said it would be paid for by returning R10 billion that had been transferred to the Central Energy Fund, and would ease the cost of living “without compromising the sustainability of the budget”. He also cut this year’s growth forecast to 1.2%, from the 1.6% expected in February’s budget, and said government debt had stabilised at 78.4% of GDP in 2025/26.

Fikile Mbalula, secretary-general of the African National Congress, welcomed the cut. The Economic Freedom Fighters called it an “election ploy”, while Thulani Shongwe, an MP for the uMkhonto weSizwe Party, described it as “a scam” and “cynical electioneering”. The Freedom Front Plus said it was too little, too late.

Build One South Africa, which has campaigned for fuel relief since the February budget, welcomed the decision but warned that it was temporary. “South Africans need immediate relief, but they also need lasting solutions to the rising cost of living,” said its leader, Mmusi Maimane.