By Nontokozo Gemani
- Fikile Maphosa, 56, buys paraffin twice a week to cook for three children in Kwa Mkhancwa, but it’s never enough.
- Spaza shop owner Ngcobo Nkosikhona stopped stocking paraffin in Kwa Mkhancwa and still isn’t sure the cheaper price will last.
Paraffin fell R6.97 a litre this July, the biggest fuel price cut of the month. In Kwa Mkhancwa, an informal settlement in Brakpan, that hasn’t meant more paraffin here.
Gauteng has the highest rate of paraffin use for cooking of any province, at 3,7% of households, according to Stats SA’s 2025 General Household Survey.
Fikile Maphosa, 56, buys paraffin twice a week to cook for her three children. It’s never enough.
“The new paraffin stoves finish paraffin very quickly, they are not like the old ones,” she said.
When it runs out, she cooks on an open fire instead. Kwa Mkhancwa’s electricity goes on and off for long stretches.
“At R35 a litre, even buying a little paraffin takes money away from other household needs,” she said.
A litre lasts her two to three days, less if she cooks every day.
The Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources confirmed the wholesale price also fell, by R5.23 a litre.
George Sithole runs a salon nearby. His power can be out for a month at a time. He buys five litres when he needs it.
“It helps me a lot because I can sometimes use it to plug water for my salon when we do not have electricity,” he said.
He stores it carefully, since paraffin can be dangerous if mishandled.
The price drop means little if there’s nothing to buy. Ngcobo Nkosikhona runs a spaza shop nearby. He stopped stocking paraffin this year after prices rose and customers stopped coming.
A truck still delivers to the area, but he’s waiting to see if the cheaper price holds before restocking.
“People were no longer coming to buy and I wasn’t making any profit,” he said.
For families in Kwa Mkhancwa, that relief depends on whether shops like Nkosikhona’s start selling again.
Pictured above: Many families in Kwa Mkhancwa in Brakpan still rely on paraffin for cooking.
Image source: Nontokozo Gemani
