Fill up your fuel tanks before the diesel price drubbing

This Wednesday will see another fuel price shocker, while in politics, the Western Cape Provincial Government gets ready to challenge the NHI at the Constitutional Court.

Politics 

Parliamentary calendar 

One month into the 2026/27 national/provincial fiscal year and many Portfolio Committees will sit this week to review Annual Performance Plans for the previous year and to finalise budgets for the current year. 

The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs will sit twice this week to discuss a few important oversight reports: on Tuesday it will consider reports on the North-West province and Gauteng province, and on Wednesday it will engage with the state of Nelson Mandela Bay metro municipality. 

The Tuesday oversight reports are from late 2025 and the Committee was part of a joint delegation including the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) and the Standing Committee on the Auditor-General. Serious financial mismanagement and service delivery failures have been highlighted in municipalities across both provinces. 

Constitutional Court challenge to the NHI 

From Tuesday to Thursday the Western Cape Provincial Government and the Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) will challenge the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act in the Constitutional Court. Both parties argue that they were disregarded in the legislative process, and are seeking to have the NHI Act set aside. 

Economics 

Absa Manufacturing PMI (April 2026) 

The Absa Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) will be released on Monday morning. The index has shown contraction in the manufacturing sector over the previous six months and there are no signs of relief in April’s numbers.  

In March, the purchasing price sub-index reached its highest level in over three years. Further increases in April would underline the inflationary effect of the US-Iran war over the rest of 2026. 

New vehicle sales (April 2026) 

Vehicle sales for April will also be released on Monday morning. Few analysts expect sales numbers to beat March’s 58 000 units, although strong domestic demand could still push total sales past 50 000. 

Petrol and diesel price increase 

At midnight on Wednesday, petrol and diesel prices are expected to increase significantly: petrol grades by about two rand a litre, while diesel could increase by well over five rand a litre. 

S&P Global South Africa PMI (April 2026) 

S&P Global will release its Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) on Wednesday morning. The S&P Global PMI is broader than Absa’s PMI, looking at overall economic conditions and trends. March’s figure of 50.8 – above the break-even mark of 50 – signalled the first improvement in general business conditions in six months.  

April’s reading will be closely watched to see if the green shoots of growth are sustainable or if they succumb to geopolitical pressures and rising oil costs. 

This article is published courtesy of The South Africa Brief, a political newsletter published on Substack which is a collaboration between Paul Berkowitz and Jonathan Moakes. It provides analysis and insight into the new, uncertain era of South African politics heralded by the 2024 general election. Including a specific focus on municipal politics, it will provide full analysis in the run-up to this year’s municipal polls. 

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