About R7.06 of every R31.95 litre of inland diesel is levy — 22% — before you have paid for any fuel at all. R3.93 is the general fuel levy, R2.25 the Road Accident Fund levy and 88 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 | 12.3% | National Treasury, in the Budget |
| Road Accident Fund levy | R2.25 | 7.0% | National Treasury, in the Budget |
| Slate levy | R0.88 | 2.8% | DMPR, monthly, to recover an industry under-recovery |
| Everything else — basic fuel price, wholesale margin, storage and distribution | R24.89 | 77.9% | International product price, the rand, and regulated margins |
| Total | R31.95 | 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 7 October 2026 the slate levy went from 83.28 cents to 87.66 cents a litre — an increase of 4.38 cents — against a cumulative negative slate balance of R10.45 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 October 2026. Adding the 87.66 cent slate levy takes the total to about R7.06 of a R31.95 litre — 22%.
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 87.66 c/l on 7 October 2026 against a cumulative negative balance of R10.45 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 did my diesel costs go up more than the petrol price in the news?
Because they moved differently. In the year to October 2026 inland diesel rose 65.2% and petrol 39.9%, and wholesale diesel at R31.95 a litre is now above petrol 95 at R30.25. The headline petrol number in the news is not a guide to your diesel bill.
Sources
- National Treasury, National Treasury on extension of short-term relief measures to address fuel price increases, 28 April 2026. The general fuel levy of R3.93 a litre on diesel and the temporary relief from April to June 2026.
- National Treasury, 2026 Budget Review, Chapter 4: Revenue trends and tax proposals, 25 February 2026. The Road Accident Fund levy of R2.25 a litre and the carbon fuel levy on diesel from 1 April 2026.
- Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Minister Gwede Mantashe announces adjustment of fuel prices effective from 7 October 2026, 5 October 2026. The slate levy of 87.66 cents a litre and the R10.45 billion slate balance.
- Fuels Industry Association of South Africa, Fuel Prices (Current & Past), table read 11 October 2026. The inland wholesale diesel price of R31.95 and the petrol 95 price of R30.25.
The shares in the build-up table, the R7.06 levy total and the R24.89 remainder are Kweli’s own figures, worked out from the levies and the price above: each levy divided by R31.95, and R31.95 less the three levies.
Related: the South African diesel price and its 14-month trend · the diesel rebate, and who actually qualifies · the fuel surcharge formula · all fuel and freight cost coverage
