Godongwana’s R10 billion petrol and diesel price relief for South Africans

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced that the government will introduce another R10 billion worth of fuel levy relief for South Africans from November 2026 to January 2027.

This comes amid record-high petrol and diesel prices in South Africa, with the National Treasury already having provided R17 billion worth of relief earlier this year.

In his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement on Wednesday, 21 October, Godongwana announced new relief for fuel prices.

“Madam Speaker, we are aware of the pressure that rising fuel prices are placing on households and businesses,” Godongwana said.

To provide temporary relief, the Treasury will again reduce the general fuel levy as follows:

• 4 November 2026 to 1 December 2026: R3.00 reduction per litre for diesel and R1.50 per litre for petrol
• 2 December 2026 to 5 January 2027: R1.50 reduction per litre for diesel and R1 per litre for petrol

Godongwana said this measure provides R10 billion in direct relief at a fiscal cost of R10 billion in foregone tax revenue.

However, unlike the R17 billion relief implemented earlier this year, the newest measure will be funded from R10 billion previously transferred to the Central Energy Fund.

This R10 billion will be returned to the National Treasury and placed into the contingency reserve. This will allow Treasury to provide relief without compromising the state’s fiscal sustainability.

The relief announced earlier this year also took the form of a temporary reduction in the general fuel levy from April to June.

This cost the Treasury R17 billion, with it essentially sacrificing the revenue it would have collected from the fuel levy in those months.