April's diesel price increase could hit R10, while petrol hikes will exceed R5.
Image: AI / ChatGPT
ON April 1 - a date that requires no additional irony - South Africans will wake up to one of the most severe fuel price shocks in the country’s post-apartheid history. Petrol is projected to increase by between R5.18 and R5.72 per litre, while diesel faces an even more punishing adjustment of up to R9.81 per litre (Central Energy Fund [CEF], 2026).
For context, 95 Unleaded currently retails at R20.30 per litre inland; the impending adjustment would push it beyond R26.00 per litre - dangerously close to the all-time record of R26.74 set in July 2022 (IOL Motoring, 2026). On the very same day, Eskom’s new electricity tariff increase of 8.76% also takes effect, delivering what AutoTrader (2026) aptly describes as a “triple shock” to already strained household budgets.
The question being asked quietly in boardrooms, union halls, and kitchen tables is both simple and profound: should South Africans go back to working from home?
The current price spike is driven by a confluence of global and domestic forces. The escalating conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz to most maritime traffic - a chokepoint through which approximately one-fifth of the world’s daily oil supply flows (TopAuto, 2026).
Brent crude surged to above $112 per barrel in March, against an average of $69 per barrel during the February review period that informed current pump prices (CEF, 2026). Compounding the oil-price pressure is a rand that has weakened more than 6% against the dollar since the onset of the conflict (CNBC Africa, 2026). South Africa, having dismantled most of its domestic crude oil refining capacity over the past decade, now imports the bulk of its finished petroleum products, leaving the country acutely exposed to precisely this kind of global supply shock.
According to the Fuel Industry Association of South Africa (FIASA), a commuter travelling 1,000km per month and consuming approximately 80 litres of petrol would face an additional R400 or more per month under the new pricing (News24, 2026). For millions of South Africans who already spend upward of 40% of their salary on commuting - as warned by COSATU parliamentary coordinator Matthew Parks (TopAuto, 2026) - this is not a marginal inconvenience. It is a financial crisis at the household level.
It was Robert Maake, Director of Fuel Pricing at the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR), who first floated the idea during a fuel pricing workshop - suggesting that working from home was “one of several possible options” individuals and organisations might consider to mitigate transport-related costs (BusinessTech, 2026).
The department subsequently issued a formal clarification distancing itself from any policy interpretation, stating emphatically that the remark “does not reflect official government policy” (The Mercury, 2026). Yet the comment resonated precisely because it reflects a real and unaddressed tension in South Africa’s economic recovery narrative. A public sector union representing over 245,000 civil servants has since called for remote work arrangements, describing them as “practical and essential,” and called for flexible working hours to allow employees to adjust travel patterns and reduce fuel consumption (CNBC Africa, 2026).
The precedent exists globally: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Vietnam and Thailand have all introduced remote work rules for public servants in response to the fuel crisis, with several encouraging the private sector to follow suit. Sri Lanka has gone further, closing state institutions every Wednesday to conserve fuel (ECR, 2026).
The argument for a temporary, voluntary return to remote or hybrid work in South Africa is not without merit. Employees in the financial services, information technology, professional services, legal and administrative sectors - those for whom remote work is technically feasible - would experience measurable and immediate relief. For an employer, the investment is minimal: the infrastructure built during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 largely remains in place. A hybrid model requiring employees to be in the office three days per week rather than five could reduce monthly commuting costs by approximately 40%, providing meaningful breathing room while the price shock works through the economy.
However, the honest caveat must be stated clearly: working from home is not a universal remedy. South Africa’s economic backbone - mining, agriculture, manufacturing, logistics, retail, construction, and domestic services - cannot be conducted remotely. As one analyst observed, “mining trucks don’t run on Wi-Fi” (Joburg Etc, 2026). Any employer-level intervention must therefore be understood as a targeted measure for eligible knowledge workers, not a structural solution to a structural problem.
The property market adds a further layer of complexity: many lower-income employees live far from their places of work precisely because inner-city accommodation is unaffordable, meaning that remote work is itself a privilege unevenly distributed across income levels (IOL, 2026). A blanket government directive for private sector remote work would therefore be both administratively blunt and socially inequitable.
What government could and should do, however, is formally encourage eligible employers - through the relevant labour and economic development frameworks - to adopt voluntary hybrid arrangements for a defined transitional period.
Minister Gwede Mantashe has assured the public that South Africa’s fuel supply is stable, with eight million barrels of crude oil held in strategic reserve (SA News, 2026). Yet his department has simultaneously refused to confirm whether the legally mandated two-month reserve is actually being maintained, while AfriForum’s formal information request suggests the country may have as little as two to three weeks of usable stock - far below the 90-day global benchmark (Rekord, 2026).
Given the government’s well-documented record of operational failures, from the state capture era to the collapse of domestic refining capacity, these assurances must be weighed against a compelling history of institutional under delivery. A Cabinet Committee has been convened, but Treasury has already conceded there is “little fiscal room” to absorb the shock (BusinessTech, 2026). South Africans have been here before.
In the absence of a meaningful government intervention, employers in eligible sectors carry a social and commercial responsibility to act. A temporary, structured hybrid work arrangement - even for 60 to 90 days while global oil markets stabilise - would reduce employee attrition driven by affordability pressures, sustain productivity, and signal genuine corporate responsibility.
Organised business, through bodies such as Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), should engage with the Department of Employment and Labour to establish a voluntary national framework. The DA has proposed a 50% reduction in the General Fuel Levy and RAF Levy, which would deliver approximately R3.17 per litre in relief (Business Day, 2026). A temporary fuel levy suspension, a hybrid work advisory, and direct consumer relief are not mutually exclusive - they are complementary tools for managing a compound crisis.
The return to remote work is not a solution to South Africa’s fuel crisis - but for employers who can deploy it, it is a responsible and cost-effective bridge across a period of extraordinary economic stress. Government’s reluctance to act decisively, whether on levy relief, supply transparency or formal policy guidance, once again places the burden of mitigation on businesses and households already at the limit of their resilience. If the tank is running dry, those who can afford to stay home, should. And those who cannot afford to drive, must not be forgotten.
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.