You hand over close to R28 for a litre of petrol — but only part of that is actually fuel. The rest is a stack of taxes, levies, margins and transport costs most drivers have never had explained. Here's where every rand goes, and the parts that surprise people most.
Inland 95 unleaded reached a record R28.06 per litre in June 2026. Fuel prices change on the first Wednesday of every month, so treat the rand figures below as approximate and dated — for the exact current breakdown, check the latest DMRE fuel-price structure.
South Africa's petrol price isn't set by the filling station. The Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources gazettes it monthly, which is why every station charges the same for petrol. That single price is assembled from several distinct building blocks — and only one of them is the fuel itself.
| Component | What it is | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| Basic Fuel Price (BFP) | The international cost of the refined fuel, plus shipping, insurance and handling | The largest, most variable chunk |
| General Fuel Levy | A general government tax — not ring-fenced for roads | ~R4.10/l |
| RAF Levy | Funds the Road Accident Fund | ~R2.25/l |
| Slate Levy | Self-adjusting mechanism recovering past under-recoveries | ~R1.58/l (June 2026) |
| Margins & distribution | Regulated wholesale and retail margins, storage, transport | ~R3+/l combined |
| Carbon, customs & excise | Smaller statutory add-ons | A few cents |
Add the levies and taxes together and they make up well over a third of what you pay at the pump — before the fuel itself, the margins or transport are even counted.
The BFP is what it costs to land refined petrol in South Africa from international markets: the product price plus freight, insurance, cargo dues, storage and financing. Because nearly all our fuel is imported, the BFP is driven by two things — the international oil and refined-product price, and the rand/dollar exchange rate. This is the part that makes the price jump around each month. When you hear "the oil price went up" or "the rand weakened", this is the block that moves.
Two levies do most of the heavy lifting. The General Fuel Levy is a straightforward government tax on every litre. The common belief is that it pays for roads — it doesn't. It flows into the national revenue pool like any other tax, to be spent on whatever the budget directs.
The RAF Levy is the one that is ring-fenced: it funds the Road Accident Fund, which compensates people injured in road crashes. Between them, these two levies are why such a large slice of your pump price is tax rather than fuel.
"The fuel levy pays for our roads." It doesn't. The General Fuel Levy is treated as general tax revenue, not road funding. The RAF levy is the ring-fenced one, and it pays accident-victim claims — not potholes.
This is the line that quietly catches people out. Because the price is fixed for a whole month but real costs move daily, the system runs an over- or under-recovery each month. The slate levy is the self-adjusting mechanism that claws back the accumulated shortfall when it grows too large. When the cumulative balance runs deeply negative, this levy is switched on and added to every litre until the gap is repaid. In June 2026 it climbed by around 35 cents in a single month, to roughly R1.58 per litre — a real chunk of the price that has nothing to do with the oil price that month.
A regulated wholesale and retail margin keeps the supply chain and the filling station running. Worth knowing: these margins are fixed by regulation, so the station owner doesn't pocket more when the price rises — a price hike doesn't make your local garage richer.
Transport explains the inland-versus-coast gap. Fuel lands at coastal ports and has to be moved inland, so a zone differential is added the further from the coast you are. That's why Gauteng and the highveld pay a bit more per litre than Cape Town or Durban — the same reason 93 and 95 availability differs by region, which we cover in our 93 vs 95 octane guide.
Petrol has a single regulated retail price; diesel does not. For diesel, the government publishes a wholesale list price and each retailer adds its own margin on top. That's why diesel prices vary from station to station while petrol doesn't — and why shopping around can actually save you money on diesel. How that plays into choosing a car is covered in our petrol vs diesel guide.
Through the first half of 2026, government ran a temporary cut to the general fuel levy to shield drivers from a spike in global oil prices. That relief was phased out, and from 1 July 2026 the levy returned to its full baseline — R4.10 per litre for petrol and R3.93 for diesel. A sharp fall in oil prices happened to cushion that particular month, but the structural point stands: the tax cushion is gone, so pump prices now sit on a higher floor and react more directly to global shocks. For budgeting a car's running costs, assume the tax portion stays put and the BFP is what swings.
Over a third of what you pay is government levies, plus regulated margins and transport that barely change month to month. The piece that actually swings is the Basic Fuel Price, set by the oil price and the rand. So when budgeting fuel for a car, the levies are a near-fixed floor — it's the international market you're really exposed to.
Every check that matters before you hand over money — printable, and built for SA buyers.