MISA warns that fuel prices are driving workers below survival line
4 September 2026
For immediate release
The Motor Industry Staff Association (MISA) warns that South Africa’s workers are being driven below the survival line by relentless fuel price hikes that official inflation figures fail to capture. While headline inflation sits at 4.3%, petrol and diesel have surged far beyond that, leaving wages hopelessly outpaced and families unable to cope.
A litre of 95 unleaded now costs R26.92 inland and R26.05 at the coast, up from R15.16 and R17.62 five years ago - a staggering 77% increase. Diesel has risen even more sharply: R30.05 per litre inland, compared to R12.46 in 2020, a 141% increase. These hikes are not abstract numbers; they translate into hundreds of rands more for every tank, every commute, and every delivery.
Fuel is not the only issue. Electricity tariffs rose 8.76% for Eskom customers in April and 9.01% for municipal customers in July, roughly double inflation. Food costs are climbing relentlessly: the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group reports that the average national household food basket costs R5,479.80.
These costs compound brutally. PMBEJD’s August data shows transport and electricity alone consume 65.8% of a minimum‑wage worker’s monthly earnings before a single item of food is bought. That leaves just R413,34 per person in a family of four, nearly half below the national food poverty line.
“Our members are not overspending. They are drowning,” says Martlé Keyter, Chief Executive Officer: Operations at MISA. “Every gain a worker has made in wage increases in recent years has been quietly absorbed by the pump, the prepaid electricity meter and the till. Families are choosing between transport to work, electricity at home and food on the table, and there is no version of that choice that does not cost them something. Workers and their families cannot keep absorbing the consequences of a fuel price system that government refuses to reform.”
MISA insists that the structure of the fuel price, the levies and margins built into every litre, must be re‑evaluated. Workers and their families cannot keep carrying the burden of a broken system.
Issued by Sonja Carstens, Manager: Media and Communication, on behalf of MISA. For press enquiries, contact Phakamile Hlubi-Majola on 083 367 6417 or email [email protected].
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