Ongoing

  1. ElectionsHot
  2. US mid-termsHeating up
  3. AICooling
NewsbriefSouth Africa, briefly.
JoburgJHB29°16°CTCT30°17°PretoriaPTA31°17°DurbanDBN27°64%

Treasury defends fuel levy cut as fastest relief for households

Published

The fuel levy cut will lower the petrol price by R1.50 and diesel by R3 from November, Treasury said. A further reduction follows in December, and the relief will run until early January.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced the temporary relief in the mid-term budget. Treasury said the cut is the most immediate way to reduce financial stress on struggling households. It made the comments while responding to public views on the budget.

In December, the relief on petrol will be R1 and on diesel R1.50. The fuel levy part of the petrol price is R4.29 per litre.

Chris Axelson, head of taxation at National Treasury, defended the decision. He said: "When prices are going up, this was the one mechanism that can have the most direct impact to provide relief to households and businesses." He also said the relief dampens inflation when prices rise.

Treasury said the effect of scrapping the fuel levy can only be known once government changes the fuel price structure. The Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources has yet to announce the November fuel prices.

Key facts

Who
Enoch Godongwana (Finance Minister); Chris Axelson (head of taxation at National Treasury); National Treasury (government department defending the fuel levy relief); Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (department yet to announce November fuel prices)
What
The Treasury defended its temporary fuel levy reprieve, announced by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in the mid-term budget, saying the fuel levy cut will reduce petrol by R1.50 and diesel by R3 from November, with a further reduction in December and an extension until early January.
When
30 October 2026
Where
South Africa
Status
Reported

Related stories

Elections Hot

What you need to know

Voting in the 2026 Local Government Elections is under way at 23,696 stations, and the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) reported a smooth start on 4 November. Stations opened at 7am and close at 9pm, and by 10am preliminary figures showed 3,523,691 voters had cast ballots.

There were problems: unused ballot papers were stolen from Mnyameni Secondary School near Durban, police opened a case, and the IEC relieved the station staff of duty. Some voters in Tshwane said they were turned away for wearing party shirts, but the IEC denied this and said only mayoral candidates' entourages were barred.

ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe told members not to query the results or discredit the IEC, while the IEC said false online claims show routine procedures as fraud.

  1. IEC dismisses MK Party worry about dead people on voters' roll
  2. IEC says local election voting went largely smoothly
  3. IEC says about 12 million had voted by 5pm

See every update

US mid-terms Heating up

What you need to know

Democrats won back both the US House and Senate in the midterm elections held on 3 November, according to media projections. Exit polls showed voters were angry about high prices and the direction of the country, and rebuked President Donald Trump.

Before the vote, US forces struck targets on Qeshm Island in Iran, while Republicans struggled to defend the war against Iran on the campaign trail. Iranian officials said US voters rejected the war, and Tehran stayed on high alert for possible new US strikes.

Markets reacted, with the dollar hitting a one-month low and the rand firming to around R16.55, as analysts pointed to fears of gridlock in Washington.

  1. Iran welcomes Democratic wins in US midterm elections
  2. Democrats win US Congress in midterm vote, projections show
  3. Ramaphosa wants US trade deal after AGOA suspension

See every update

AI Cooling

What you need to know

Nvidia has told its cloud computing clients to sell at least 51% of their services to non-Chinese companies, according to five people with knowledge of the matter. Anthropic said it has committed to spend close to $900bn on AI infrastructure, and that its computing costs are rising faster than its revenues.

Elsewhere, reports from unnamed sources say OpenAI's latest funding round is falling short of expectations, and a judge let the NAACP pollution case against xAI proceed. In South Africa, the VAST AI investment scheme went offline on 30 October after withdrawals marked approved did not arrive, according to a news investigation.

  1. Accenture faces accusations over AI report with false citations
  2. CrowdStrike to buy two AI security startups
  3. Google lets schools turn off AI tools but limits Search

See every update