About R7.01 of every R29.11 litre of inland diesel is levy — 24% — before you have paid for any fuel at all. R3.93 is the general fuel levy, R2.25 the Road Accident Fund levy and 83 cents the slate. The rest is the fuel itself, plus getting it to you.
This matters because three of those components are decided in Pretoria, not in an oil market. When you hear that a fuel increase is “because of the oil price”, part of it usually is not.
The build-up, one litre at a time
| Component | Per litre | Share | Who decides it |
|---|---|---|---|
| General fuel levy | R3.93 | 13.5% | National Treasury, in the Budget |
| Road Accident Fund levy | R2.25 | 7.7% | National Treasury, in the Budget |
| Slate levy | R0.83 | 2.9% | DMPR, monthly, to recover an industry under-recovery |
| Everything else — basic fuel price, wholesale margin, storage and distribution | R22.10 | 75.9% | International product price, the rand, and regulated margins |
| Total | R29.11 | 100% | — |
The slate is the part nobody explains
The slate is a balancing account. When the price you paid last month was lower than what the fuel actually cost to import, the industry runs an under-recovery, and that shortfall is recovered later through the slate levy.
On 2 September 2026 the slate levy went from 61.38 cents to 83.28 cents a litre — an increase of 21.90 cents — against a cumulative negative slate balance of R9.519 billion. That is a real debt being paid off at the pump, and it moves independently of the oil price.
The levy holiday you may not have noticed
From 1 April 2026 government cut the general fuel levy temporarily: R3.00 a litre off petrol and R3.93 a litre off diesel — the whole diesel levy. It was halved to R1.96 on 3 June and ended on 1 July 2026. Source: National Treasury, 28 April 2026.
So part of what a diesel litre costs you today is not an oil price and not a tax increase. It is the removal of relief you had for three months. If your costing has not been redone since June, that is one of the reasons the numbers stopped working.
What you can actually do with this
- Split your fuel line when you quote. The levy portion is stable and predictable; the basic fuel price is not. A surcharge clause should track the part that moves.
- Do not treat a fuel increase as one thing. A slate increase and a Brent increase have different shapes and different lifespans.
- Diesel has no fixed retail price. The published diesel figure is a wholesale list price, so where you buy genuinely changes what you pay — unlike petrol.
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Questions people ask
How much tax is on a litre of diesel in South Africa?
R3.93 general fuel levy plus R2.25 Road Accident Fund levy, so R6.18 a litre in the two main levies as at September 2026. Adding the 83.28 cent slate levy takes the total to about R7.01 of a R29.11 litre — 24%.
What is the slate levy?
A recovery mechanism. When regulated prices lagged the real cost of fuel, the industry under-recovered, and the slate levy recovers that shortfall afterwards. It was raised to 83.28 c/l on 2 September 2026 against a cumulative negative balance of R9.519 billion.
Is the diesel fuel levy still zero?
No. The temporary relief ran from 1 April 2026, was halved on 3 June and ended on 1 July 2026. The diesel general fuel levy is back at R3.93 a litre.
Why is diesel cheaper than petrol per litre but my costs went up more?
Because they moved differently. In the year to September 2026 inland diesel rose 49.7% and petrol 24.9%. The headline petrol number in the news is not a guide to your diesel bill.
Related: the South African diesel price and its 13-month trend · the diesel rebate, and who actually qualifies · the fuel surcharge formula · all fuel and freight cost coverage
