Relief at the fuel pumps, troops on the ground to combat crime, efforts to fight gender-based violence and improvement in service delivery. These were just a few of the key points highlighted by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in his Medium-term Budget Policy Statement speech delivered in the National Assembly today.

Fuel

Good news for South African consumers is the announcement made by the minister of the decrease in the price of fuel. Godongwana said the fuel levy will drop by R3/l for diesel and R1,50/l for petrol from 4 November to 1 December, and this relief would continue to 5 January 2027, when the diesel levy will be R1,50/l less, petrol levy R1/l less.

Response

ActionSA, however, said it was disappointed by Godongwana’s announcement of short-term fuel-relief measures, which it believed did not go far enough to ease the devastating cost-of-living crisis nor succeed in addressing the fundamental problems that continue to undermine South Africa’s economy.

The political party said the temporary fuel-levy relief, amounting to R10 billion and set to expire on 1 January 2027, fell desperately short of addressing the impact of high fuel prices. These costs have driven up the prices of food, basic goods and services, and virtually every part of the economy that depends on transportation, it said.

This crisis is compounded by the ineptitude of a government that bizarrely allowed its country’s strategic oil reserves to be sold off while failing to invest in and drive strategic opportunities in its energy markets, said Matthew George, ActionSA spokesperson. The result is that South Africa remains dangerously dependent on external supply, leaving households and businesses exposed to global price shocks, with no credible plan to strengthen its energy security or shield the economy from future disruptions.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) indicated it appreciated the government’s heeding of a call for badly needed relief to the working class and the economy, with a R10 billion fuel levy holiday for November and December. It said this will ease the burden on commuters, inject money into the economy, lower inflation and hopefully prevent a November repo-rate hike. An overhaul of the fuel taxes and levy is needed, including fixing the Road Accident Fund, it said.

The Good Party said while the fuel relief was welcome it is too light and too short.

“The minister has cut the fuel levy by R1,50 a litre on petrol and R3 on diesel from 4 November to 1 December,” said Brett Herron, Good MPP. “After that the cut falls to R1 and R1,50 until 5 January 2027. The R10 billion is not new money; it is funding already set aside for the Central Energy Fund, returned to the fiscus.

“The geopolitical pressure on oil prices will not end in January and nor will the knock-on costs of food, goods and public transport. Nine weeks of shrinking relief is not a policy that’s going to address our cost-of-living crisis.

“There was also no proposed review of the General Fuel Levy, which still works as a general tax rather than serving any clear purpose. Instead, motorists and commuters will be back to full levy rates in the new year.

GBV

Another key point in Godongwana’s speech includes the R3,8 billion to hire 35 000 social workers to respond to the rising cases of gender-based violence, and a further R186m allocated to strengthen forensic and investigative capacity as well as expanding sexual-offences courts from 55 to 101.
He mentioned that R157,4m would be allocated to the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, and government will also recapacitate the police’s fleet at a cost of R810 million next year to help fight this scourge.

SANDF

Godongwana also indicated that government would allocate R823m for the deployment of South African National Defence Force (SANDF) troops to help fight gang-related crimes and illegal mining.

In its statement Cosatu said it was encouraged by additional funding to boost the war against crime and corruption with R810 million allocated to provide the police with working vehicles, R823 million to deploy the SANDF in support of the police, R186 million for forensics and investigations, an injection of R2,2 billion to the judiciary, nearly doubling sexual offences courts to 101, and over R1,25 billion to boost Border Management, including R305 million for deportations.

Godongwana mentioned in his speech that government will make funds available to capacitate the Border Management Agency (BMA) and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) to accelerate modernisation programmes, and later on added that government was considering strengthening the border inspectorate and immigration officers.

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