South African drivers may soon see an extra charge tacked onto their annual vehicle licence renewals. Transport Minister Barbara Creecy has confirmed the Department of Transport is investigating a levy on licence renewals and vehicle registrations as a fresh way to fund the cash-strapped Road Accident Fund (RAF), the state body that compensates victims of road crashes.
The reason for the shake-up comes down to electric vehicles. The RAF is currently financed through a levy of R2.25 built into every litre of petrol and diesel, so as more drivers switch to EVs, that revenue stream slowly dries up — even though EV owners still qualify for accident compensation. 'We have to look at the fact that there's a big shift to electric vehicles,' Creecy explained on the Sunday World Podcast, noting that funding tied to fossil fuels can't last forever.
The numbers behind the urgency are stark. The RAF's revenue dropped 5% to R48.1 billion in the 2025/26 financial year, down from R50.8 billion previously. The fund itself has proposed hiking the fuel levy to R3 per litre, though Creecy has said she won't pursue a further increase at this stage. Any new licence-based charge would also require legislative changes before it could go ahead.
Not everyone is convinced the plan makes sense. The Automobile Association of South Africa has pushed back hard, with chief executive Bobby Ramagwede arguing that EV adoption in the country remains slow and that the fund's real problems are operational, not driven by electric cars. AfriForum has raised another objection: petrol and diesel drivers already pay into the RAF every time they fill up, so a licence renewal levy could mean paying twice.
For now, nothing is set in stone. There's no confirmed amount, no implementation date, and no final word on which motorists would pay. But if you're planning a self-drive trip to South Africa — whether it's the Garden Route or a safari run up to Kruger — it's worth keeping an eye on, since rental car costs and local driving expenses could shift if the levy lands.
