- Taxi driver Bab'Nkomo faces a R2,000 daily fuel bill in Soweto after petrol and diesel prices jump at midnight on Tuesday.
- Johannesburg worker Ntlamolo Khubayi will sell sweets and drinks to pay for taxi fares after record fuel price increase on Tuesday night.
Bab'Nkomo has driven a taxi in Soweto for eleven years. From midnight on Tuesday night he will spend about R2,000 a day to fill his vehicle with fuel. This cost comes before he pays his driver or covers his insurance and repairs.
"R5 is still too little," he said. Bab'Nkomo said a return trip from Soweto to Johannesburg could soon cost R54 if taxi bosses approve the increase. His taxi association has suggested a fare increase for July but fuel prices will jump on Tuesday night.
Call centre worker Ntlamolo Khubayi is 25 years old. He earns commission and does not have a fixed salary. Khubayi plans to sell sweets and energy drinks on the side to pay for his transport after tonight.
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"When people start wars in other countries they don't think about us and how we are affected," Khubayi said.
Spaza shop owner Nolwazi Mnguni is 27 years old. She says bread will be the first item to cost more because trucks deliver it every day. Mnguni expects to lose money because customers will start buying home-baked bread instead.
Petrol prices rise by R3.06 a litre and diesel goes up by more than R7 at midnight. Paraffin prices increased by R11.67 a litre. These are the biggest monthly increases the country has ever seen.
The price increase follow airstrikes by the United States and Israel on Iran on 28 February. Global oil prices jumped after Iran closed a major shipping route.
The Treasury cut the fuel levy by R3 a litre until 5 May to help. Economist Dawie Roodt from the Efficient Group said the country has been set back by at least one year.
"We have been set back by at least a year," Roodt said.
