South Africa’s official fuel prices for November 2026 are locked in, effective today, Wednesday, 4 November. Petrol prices will be cut by 1 cent per litre for 93 and 95, and diesel will be cut by R1.10 and R1.20 per litre for 0.05% and 0.005%, respectively.
If you fill up on petrol, that is roughly the price of one chappie. If you run a diesel vehicle, your wallet will feel it slightly more.
Inland petrol 93 moves from R29.88 to R29.87, and petrol 95 moves from R30.25 to R30.24. Coastal prices follow suit, dropping by the same 1 cent per litre. The numbers were released by CEF (SOC) Ltd on behalf of the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources.
Why diesel saved more than petrol did
This marks the second time this year that the general fuel levy has been temporarily cut, by R1.50 per litre for petrol and R3.00 per litre for diesel. That is a significant intervention on paper. The problem is what it had to fight through to get to your pocket.
Average international product prices of petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin increased during the period under review. This led to higher contributions to the basic fuel prices of petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin by 36.93 c/l, 49.00 c/l and 49.26 c/l respectively.
The rand also made things worse. According to the official media statement, the average rand/US dollar exchange rate for the period 2 to 29 October 2026 was 16.5529, compared to 16.2123 in the previous period.
So the levy cut absorbed what it could, and the market ate most of the rest.
The slate levy: the number nobody put in the headline
There is a third player in this story, and it did not come to give. The slate levy was increased from 87.66 to 135.84 cents per litre, contributing to increases of 48.18 cents per litre in the prices of petrol and diesel.
That is nearly half a rand added back in, on the same day the levy cut was supposed to be doing you a favour.
The cumulative slate amounted to a negative balance of R15.876 billion for petrol and diesel at the end of September 2026. In line with the provisions of the Self-Adjusting Slate Levy Mechanism, the slate levy of 135.84 c/l will be implemented in the price structures of petrol and diesel with effect from 4 November 2026.
This mechanism exists to recover money the system is owed when the official pump price has been below the actual import cost for a sustained period.
The slate is a kind of running tab the fuel pricing system keeps against South African motorists. It does not care about your data bundle budget or your load shedding costs.
What it means for paraffin and LPGas users
The picture looks quite different for households that rely on illuminating paraffin or LPGas, who skew lower-income and are already carrying the most weight from the energy crisis.
According to the official statement, the wholesale price of illuminating paraffin will increase by 275 cents per litre. The Single Maximum National Retail Price for illuminating paraffin for the period 4 November to 1 December 2026 will be 3 548.00 c/l, compared to 3 182.00 c/l for the previous period. That is a 366 cent jump at retail.
The maximum retail price for LPGas increases by 183 cents per kilogram. The temporary fuel levy relief that softened the blow for petrol and diesel users does not apply here.
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The bigger picture
The price changes come after the Finance Minister announced a R10-billion temporary fuel levy relief package during last month’s mini-budget.
The relief runs until 1 December 2026, after which the cuts are reduced. For petrol, those savings barely registered this month. For diesel, the cut was real and meaningful.
The fuel levy relief applied to petrol and diesel. For the households burning paraffin to cook and heat their homes, November just got more expensive.
