The fake diesel is contaminated with illuminating paraffin, which can damage engines and harm the environment.

The South African Petroleum Industry Association (SAPIA) Executive Director, Avhapfani Tshifularo, condemned this practice as greedy and harmful to the economy and the reputation of the petroleum industry.

He suggested that imposing a tax on illuminating paraffin equivalent to that on diesel would eliminate the incentive for this fraud.

"The people who are mixing paraffin with diesel is because they get that benefit of the tax that's on the diesel once they mix diesel with paraffin, the additional volume is not subjected to tax so they just pocket the additional $3.50," Tshifularo said.

--SABC--