Petrol and diesel prices slashed this June despite massive fuel tax hikes

Thanks to the National Treasury, South Africa is faced with its first fuel tax hike in three years — with motorists expected to suffer a major 15-16c/l hike on top of the already ludicrous fuel prices at the pumps. Fortunately, thanks to the Rand’s resilience throughout May, motorists will get off easy with cheaper prices in June.

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE), which is responsible for adjusting South Africa’s fuel prices every month (typically on the first Wednesday of any given month), has officially published the fuel price adjustments for June. As such, the new fuel prices will kick in locally on Wednesday, 4 June, at midnight.

Petrol’s headed in the right direction

As of 4 June 2025, the National Treasury will formally implement the tax hike for all motorists — 16c/l for petrol and 15c/l for diesel — taking the general levy up to a whopping R4.01 and R3.85 respectively in South Africa. Had the National Treasury not intervened, drivers would, instead, be facing a larger decrease than the one we’re actually receiving, according to data captured by the Central Energy Fund in May (CEF).

As we reported last week, the CEF’s daily predictive snapshots foretold that a rough price decrease of around 19 and 50c/l for both petrol and diesel, respectively, was on the way. These figures did not take the National Treasury’s hike into account, however. As such, we’re left with a far more minuscule price decrease for the price of petrol. Diesel, on the other hand, has less to complain about considering the 37c/l decrease.

The CEF, in conjunction with the DMRE, keeps track of the various economic factors which influence the price of fuel locally, such as the current Rand/US Dollar exchange rate and the price of oil globally. These, averaged over the previous month, are the most reliable factors when determining the price of fuel in South Africa. South Africa’s saving grace was a strong Rand throughout May, leading to a small ‘over-recovery’ this month.

At the time of writing, 93 Unleaded petrol will set residents back R21.29/l (R20.50/l on the coast), while 95 Unleaded goes for R20.40/l (R20.61/l). Diesel drivers, who will receive a generous price cut on Wednesday, currently pay R18.94/l (R18.18/l) for the 0.05% grade, while those after the 0.005% grade pay R18.90/l (R18.11/l).

From 00:01 on the morning of Wednesday, 4 June, petroleum-based fuels will see the following changes: