ActionSA has demanded an urgent cut to the fuel levy after motorists were hit with increases of more than R3 a litre, pushing Gauteng’s 95 petrol price above the R30 mark.
ActionSA Member of Parliament Alan Beesley has called on Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to intervene, warning that the latest fuel shock will reverberate through households, businesses and the wider economy.
The Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources announced on Monday that the price of 93 petrol would increase by R3.12 a litre, while 95 petrol would jump by R3.33 a litre from Wednesday, 7 October. Diesel prices will rise by between R2.84 and R3.24 a litre.
In Gauteng, 95 petrol will now cost R30.25 a litre, while 93 petrol rises to R29.88.
Beesley said government could not ignore the growing pressure being placed on consumers and businesses.
“The fuel price feeds directly into the cost of transporting people and goods, meaning higher fuel prices ultimately translate into higher prices for food, basic goods, services and virtually every part of the economy that depends on transportation.”
He said the latest increases would hit small businesses particularly hard, with rising fuel and transport costs eating further into already constrained margins.
For ordinary South Africans, Beesley warned that the fuel shock would leave households with less money for basic necessities such as food, electricity and housing.
ActionSA is now calling for the fuel levy to be urgently reviewed and reduced as a temporary measure to cushion consumers from the latest increases.
Beesley said there was a credible basis for providing relief, pointing to SARS’s strong revenue collection performance during the 2025/26 financial year.
The South African Revenue Service (SARS), Beesley says, collected R2.010 trillion in net revenue, R24.7 billion above its estimate and representing an 8.4% increase compared with the previous financial year.
“We led the charge to strengthen SARS and provide the revenue service with the resources required to maximise collections and close the tax gap,” Beesley said.
He argued that continued improvements in revenue collection should give government room to provide temporary relief while maintaining fiscal responsibility.
The latest fuel increases have been driven largely by higher international oil and petroleum product prices.
The department said the average Brent crude price rose from US$87.89 to US$101 a barrel, citing continued US-Iran tensions, uncertainty over oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, increased shipping costs and declining inventories.
Beesley said ActionSA would take its demand to the upcoming Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS), where the party plans to push for measures to ease the financial pressure on consumers.
“ActionSA will robustly engage with the upcoming MTBPS to ensure that the GNU government presents a credible plan to provide relief to South Africans while addressing the waste and inefficiencies that continue to place the burden of government failure on citizens,” he said.
