Durban - The petrol price will increase by between 8c and 11c a litre on Wednesday and diesel will cost between 41c and 42c more.
Confirming the increases on Sunday, Department of Energy spokeswoman, Lerato Ntsoko, said international crude and petroleum product prices were behind the increase, but the pain at the pumps was moderated by a stronger rand.
She said supply disruptions in Canada, Venezuela, Libya, Nigeria and Iraq were to blame.
The Automobile Association (AA) warned that the fuel price would remain volatile.
“We expect further volatility in the short to medium term as world markets continue to digest the consequences of the UK’s referendum to leave Europe. This means that any additional political or economic shocks are likely to have a strong impact on South African fuel users,” the AA said.
Meanwhile, fares for taxi commuters in KwaZulu-Natal increased by at least R1 from Friday, according to the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco).
Santaco’s KZN chairman, Boy Zondi, said taxi operators had been feeling the fuel increases but had taken a decision with the 246 taxi associations in the province that taxi fare increases would only be allowed once a year, on July 1, so as to not overburden commuters.
Zondi said the annual increase varied, as it was left to the associations to decide by how much they would increase fares.
uMlazi residents would now have to fork out R16 for a single trip to the Durban CBD.
He said they were ready to start talks with the government for a subsidy for minibus taxi operators, an issue that had been on the table for at least 10 years. A government task team was established in 2014 to investigate the possibility of subsidising taxi operators.
Zondi said: “It has been 22 years since we attained our freedom but we do not see any progress in terms of subsidies. It is unfair competition caused by government. If buses are subsidised, we must be subsidised too or no subsidies for the buses.”