Pray for entrepreneurs: the devil is in the details

FINANCE Minister Enoch Godongwana's Budget 3.0 may have spared us a VAT hike curse.

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Still, he did unleash a slow poison in the form of a 4% inflation-linked increase in the fuel levy, adding 16 cents per litre on petrol and 15 cents on diesel, effective from 4 June 2025.

Small businesses that dodged the blue “VAT devil” now face a red “fuel-levy demon” pushing up transport and input costs, squeezing already razor-thin margins.

Between a VAT hike that would have been a broad-based bite or a fuel levy that’s a sneaky surcharge on every wheel that turns, entrepreneurs must decide which monster stings less—and learn to sidestep whichever serpent gets under their bonnets.

The last time South Africans danced to “the devil made me do it” was during the 2021 budget speech, cooked by the late Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni.

On that fateful day, fuel levies were increased by 27 cents per litrecompris-ing 15 cents for the general fuel levy, 11 cents for the Road Accident Fund levy, and 1 cent for the carbon fuel levy.