South African motorists could be paying up to R483 less to fill their tanks

A MyBroadband analysis has revealed that South Africa’s general fuel levy (GFL) and Road Accident Fund (RAF) levy add between R272 and R483 to the cost of filling your car’s tank, depending on its size.

The country’s GFL on petrol is currently set at R3.86 per litre, as it has remained since the 2023/24 financial year, while the RAF levy has remained at R2.18 per litre since the 2021/22 financial year.

At the April 2025 price of R21.61 per litre of inland unleaded 95, these levies comprise roughly 28% of the total cost per litre.

It should be noted that several components affect the price of fuel in South Africa. They are as follows:

• Basic fuel price (BFP) — the cost of the petrol before any money is spent on the many other taxes and levies applied.
• Other costs — transport, secondary storage, distribution, and more minor charges.
• Wholesale and retail margins — the markup wholesalers and retailers are allowed to add.
• General fuel levy (GFL) — a tax on each litre of fuel sold.
• Road accident fund (RAF) levy — fuel tax to fund the RAF.

The government has kept the RAF levy steady since the 2021/22 financial year and froze the GFL at R3.86 per litre in 2023/24. Neither the RAF levy nor GFL will change in 2025/26.

MyBroadband calculated how much less motorists in South Africa would pay to fill various vehicle tank sizes if the GFL and RAF levies were removed from the petrol price.

We used common tank sizes, including 45 litres, 50 litres, 55 litres, 60 litres, and 80 litres, for our calculations.

Without the two petrol price add-ons, motorists would pay roughly R272 less to fill their car’s 45-litre tank and R302 less if it has a 50-litre tank.

Motorists whose cars have 55-litre and 60-litre tanks would pay R332 and R362 less, respectively, to fill their tanks.

Those with cars with 80-litre tanks would pay R483 less to fill their tanks if the GFL and RAF levies were removed from the litre price of petrol.

The following table shows how much less you would pay to fill your car’s petrol tank if South Africa’s RAF tax and GFL were scrapped.

We used April 2025’s inland unleaded 95 price of R23.26 for our calculations.

Mantashe says South Africa’s petrol price should be R14 per litre

While speaking at the African Oil Week conference in Cape Town in October 2024, the Minister of Minerals and Petroleum Resources, Gwede Mantashe, said the petrol and diesel price should be around R14 per litre in South Africa.

He said fuel price add-ons like the GFL and RAF levy had distorted the price to around R20 per litre.

Mantashe explained that despite some fuel price relief in October 2024, high petrol prices will continue to put pressure on South African residents, adding that the government was discussing how to further lower fuel prices.

“In the fuel price, there is the general fuel levy, there is the Road Accident Fund, linked to the price of fuel. So instead of buying a litre of fuel for R14, you buy it for R20,” Mantashe said in his address at the conference.

“Our argument is: you are distorting the price of fuel. Let’s find the formula for separating these two things and have the price of fuel visible.”

“We intend to conclude this discussion in the shortest possible time,” he added.

In a media briefing following his address, he said his department’s analysis suggested that the proper price of petrol should be R14.

Potential negative consequences of scrapping the GFL and RAF

Scrapping the GFL and RAF levies would provide much relief for South African motorists, but it could also result in unwanted consequences.

In July 2024, Dr Azar Jammine, director and chief economist at Econometrix, warned that the government would have to look elsewhere to replace the revenue generated through the GFL.

This is because removing the GFL from the fuel price would remove a large chunk of South Africa’s annual revenue, as the GFL isn’t ringfenced and goes into the fiscus like other taxes.

He shared his views after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a review of South Africa’s fuel price formula.

“I think one should see the statement as one of a series of statements issued to try and appease consumers who are really feeling cash-strapped in the face of high interest rates and the high inflation that has prevailed for several years,” said Jammine.

“It’s very easy to bring down the fuel price by doing away with the fuel levy, but then the government would sacrifice about 5% of its annual revenue.”

It would be forced to look at other sources of revenue, such as income tax, to make up the difference.

Scrapping the RAF levy could also result in mandatory third-party vehicle insurance for South African motorists.

The Fuel Retailers’ Association has called for scrapping the RAF levy in favour of third-party vehicle insurance, arguing that the RAF scheme shouldn’t be linked to the petrol pump price.

Road safety expert and Driving.co.za managing director Rob Handfield-Jones agreed. He said that since the RAF’s establishment in the 1990s, the fatality risk has increased at least four-fold.

Therefore, the RAF is at least four times underfunded.

“The RAF levy would need to be at least R12 to R15 per litre to adequately fund the current injury disaster on our roads, and that is simply not politically palatable,” said Handfield-Jones.

He said a more sensible solution than hiking the RAF levy to match the level of road carnage and medical inflation in South Africa is to scrap it and force all motorists to take out comprehensive insurance.