How Much Your Dop And Entjies Could Cost After The Budget Speech
Eish, here comes the Budget and everything’s going up!
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has spoken, and, as expected, alles are going up. Your groceries, your dop, your cigarettes—niks has been spared. If your wallet wasn’t already gasping for air, it’s about to start wheezing like Mavis who smokes three packets of Princeton’s a day.
Groceries Will Cost You More After The Budget Speech
The first thing you’ll notice is the VAT increase. It’s a tiny 0.5%, but that’s enough to make things more expensive. So, if you spend R500 on groceries, expect to fork out an extra R2.50 on VAT. Not the biggest jump, but it all adds up. So, your R500 shopping is going to set you back R577.50 with VAT now at 15.5%. It’s a little sting, but it’s a sting we’re all familiar with by now.
Social Grants: Some Extra Coins for Those Who Need Them
For those relying on social grants, there’s a bit of relief, but it’s not much to write home about. Here’s the breakdown:
Here’s how the increases are stacking up:
- Old Age & Disability Grants: R130 more, bringing it to R2315.
- War Veterans Grant: R130 more, now R2335.
- Disability Grant: R130 more, same as the old age grant—R2315.
- Foster Care Grant: R70 more, reaching R1250.
- Care Dependency Grant: R130 more, now R2315.
- Child Support Grant: R30 more, now R560.
- Grant-in-aid: R30 more, now R560.
The SRD grant, the lifeline that was introduced during Covid-19, is sticking around a bit longer—until March 2026. It’s supporting over 10 million mense, and R35.2 billion is set aside to keep it going.
It Wouldn’t Be A Budget Speech Without The Sin Tax Increase
That lovely little yearly reminder that the government will take a cut from the things some people enjoy the most. Alcohol prices are set to rise by 6.75%, so your cold one after a long day is going to cost you a bit more. Tobacco products aren’t off the hook either—expect a 4.75% increase on cigarettes, tobacco, and even your vape juice. If you take a dop, it’s not exactly good news, but the government seems to think it’s the price you pay for your bad habits.
Below is an estimate of how much you could pay for different types of alcohol and cigarettes at retailers (smokkelhuise and spaza shops might put their own increases on the below prices) based on the average cost and the sin tax increase.
Alcohol
| Alcohol Type | Price (2024) | Price (2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Black Label 750ml | R21.99 | R22.10 |
| 4th Street 5L | R189.99 | R190.94 |
| Savanna Dry Cider 6 x 330ml | R124.99 | R125.61 |
| Brutal Fruit Ruby Apple Spritzer | R119.99 | R120.59 |
| Smirnoff 1818 | R179.99 | R180.89 |
| Grants Blended Whisky | R279.99 | R281.39 |
| Jameson Irish Whisky | R394.99 | R396.96 |
Cigarettes
| Cigarette Type | Price (2024) | Price (2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Peter Stuyvesant 20s | R45. 99 | R46.22 |
| Marlboro | R55.00 | R55.27 |
| Pall Mall XL Boost | R32.00 | R32.16 |
| Rothmans Special Red | R50.00 | R50.25 |
| Chicago Blue | R31.00 | R31.15 |
| Princeton | R20.00 | R20.10 |
When the alcohol tax goes up 6.75%, the price you pay might not follow exactly. Stores have to think about competition and how much they need to make. They might decide to take a smaller profit or add in other costs, like shipping. So, the final price could be a bit different from a straight 6.75% increase.
Anyway, it looks like that ou skarreling for a R2 at the shop’s stoep won’t be getting any of our hard-earned coins, and that taxi guardjie can forget about keeping that R1 change.
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