Petrol and diesel prices in South Africa (ZAR)
The petrol (gasoline) price in South Africa is 26.49 ZAR per litre, and diesel costs 31.88 ZAR per litre, as published on September 29, 2026. These are official retail pump prices, not model estimates.
At the official exchange rate of 16.51 ZAR per US dollar, a litre of petrol in South Africa is worth about $1.604 and a litre of diesel about $1.931.
How fuel prices are set in South Africa
Most countries in ETCurrency's coverage — South Africa included — import refined petrol and diesel or the crude they are made from, and pay for it in US dollars. The retail price you see at the pump is therefore three things stacked together: the international product price, the exchange rate used to bring it into South African Rand, and domestic taxes, levies, distribution margins and (often) subsidies.
Because the dollar cost is converted at the official exchange rate rather than the parallel one, fuel in countries with a large parallel premium looks cheap in dollar terms when you convert at the street rate. That is why the same litre can be quoted at two very different USD equivalents above.
Petrol vs diesel vs kerosene
In South Africa, diesel is currently more expensive than petrol (31.88 vs 26.49 ZAR per litre). Diesel is the fuel of transport, agriculture and generators, so governments frequently cap or subsidise it more heavily than petrol; petrol is taxed as a consumer good. Kerosene, where sold, is a household cooking and lighting fuel and is often the most heavily subsidised of all.
Only petrol and diesel are published for South Africa; kerosene and aviation fuel are not shown rather than estimated.
How to read this price
Fuel prices in South Africa change less often than exchange rates: regulated markets revise them monthly or quarterly, liberalised ones weekly. The date on this page is the date the price was published, so a figure that is a few weeks old is normal and is usually still the price at the pump.
Pump prices vary by region and station, and informal-market fuel is priced separately from official stations. Treat the figure here as the reference retail price for South Africa, and use the exchange-rate pages to understand what it means in dollars.