- AA demands RAF levy be abolished.
- RAF seeks levy rise from R2.25 to R3.
- Diesel up from R17 to over R34.
- Petrol projected up R4.58 a litre in November.
- AA wants R3-a-litre cut before November.
The Automobile Association of South Africa (AA) has called for the Road Accident Fund (RAF) levy to be abolished and for a further cut to fuel taxes. The call follows the fuel price increase of 7 October, which pushed petrol and diesel to the highest prices South Africans have paid. Early Central Energy Fund (CEF) data points to a further rise of up to R4.58 a litre for petrol in November.
The AA is also responding to the RAF annual report for the 2025/26 financial year, which includes a request to raise the RAF levy on petrol and diesel to R3 a litre. The levy currently stands at R2.25 a litre after a seven cent increase at the start of April.
RAF levy and the AA objections
AA CEO Bobby Ramagwede said it was “beyond concerning” that the new RAF CEO, Waseem Carrim, appointed by cabinet a few weeks ago, was considering an increase. He pointed out that net RAF levy collections totalled R47.8 billion in the financial year, adding: “Gouging the consumer is not the answer.”
Diesel and petrol prices in 2026
According to the AA, diesel has doubled this year, from R17 a litre in January to more than R34, the largest annual increase on record. Petrol is up by about a third since January. Projections for November show petrol rising R4.29 a litre for 93 and R4.58 a litre for 95, wholesale diesel rising R2.56 to R2.91 a litre and illuminating paraffin rising R5.00 a litre. The oil price is above US$100 a barrel, against US$65 before the Iran war. The November figures are projections and are recalculated daily.
The AA cites predictions that the latest increase will push consumer inflation above 5 per cent, delaying interest rate relief. Ramagwede said some low-income workers already spend as much as 40 per cent of their pay getting to and from work, while taxi, bus and e-hailing operators pass fuel costs on through fares.
What the AA is asking from government
The AA wants National Treasury to cut fuel taxes such as the general fuel levy by a further R3 a litre before the November adjustment, paid for by cutting wasteful spending rather than borrowing. Treasury cut fuel levies by R3 a litre in April at a cost of approximately R17 billion. The AA also challenges Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s view that such relief would shift costs to taxpayers or borrowing, and asks the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources for a public review of the basic fuel price formula, including why fuel refined in South Africa is priced as though it were imported.
The association calls on Dr Tshepo Mokoka, the newly appointed Group CEO of the CEF, to publish a plan within 90 days to rebuild the strategic fuel reserve and settle the future of PetroSA. The CEF sold off strategic crude stocks in 2015, and PetroSA’s Mossel Bay refinery has been largely idle since 2020. Employers are asked to review transport allowances now and, where the work allows, offer one remote working day a week, which cuts a five-day commuter’s weekly transport bill by a fifth.
Supplied by QuickPic (AA)
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