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# South Africa’s new petrol prices are in, and it might be time to dust off that old bicycle
- URL: https://www.businessbagel.com/petrol-up-r1-34-diesel-up-r3-15-september-2026/
- Published: 2026-09-02T02:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-02T02:29:59.000Z
- Description: The rand had its strongest month in a while and it bought South African drivers almost nothing, because the price at the pump was set by what happened a month ago.
- Author: Christian Maidman
- Tags: Economy, Business Bagel News, #big

The price you pay on Wednesday was decided in July and August, and the rand's good run was not enough to save it. From the 2nd of September petrol 93 and 95 both go up R1.34 a litre, which takes 95 unleaded to R26.92 in Gauteng. Filling a 50 litre tank costs about R67 more than it did last week.

Diesel is the increase that leaves the forecourt. Wholesale diesel goes up between R2.94 and R3.15 a litre depending on the grade, which takes the cheaper of the two to R29.11 in Gauteng. It was R18.42 there at the start of the year. Almost every loaf of bread in the country travels on that number.

## The slate levy and the forecourt wage

South Africa resets its fuel prices once a month, working off what it actually cost to import petrol and diesel over the previous thirty days. The state-owned Central Energy Fund does the sum, and the two ingredients that move it most are international product prices and the rand.

Two smaller additions did their own damage this month. The slate levy, which repays importers the gap between what they paid on world markets and what the regulated price let them recover, rose 21.90 cents a litre to 83.28 cents, against a cumulative shortfall of R9.519 billion at the end of July. Gwede Mantashe separately approved another 4.9 cents a litre so that pump attendants, cashiers and forecourt administrative staff get the wage increase their bargaining council agreed last year.

## The war that set the price

Brent crude averaged $87.88 a barrel over the review period, up from $82.37, because the United States and Iran keep fighting and nobody can say with confidence what will get through the Strait of Hormuz. Diesel is tighter still: Russia banned diesel exports after Ukraine attacked its refineries, and there is not enough spare refining capacity anywhere to cover the gap.

The rand did exactly what it was supposed to do. It firmed to an average of R16.21 to the dollar from R16.46, which took 21 cents a litre off petrol and 29 cents off diesel. Then the oil price took several rands back.

Business Day reports that local fuel importers have absorbed at least $3.5 billion in extra costs since the conflict began, on the count of the Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, which puts South Africa among the twenty countries worst hit by the shock.

The Reserve Bank has held its policy rate at 7% since July and said it would not hesitate to act if the oil shock starts showing up in everything else. It meets again on 23 September, three weeks after this increase reaches the pumps.