President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed the Carbon Tax Act into law and it will come into effect from 1 June 2019.
The carbon tax, which aims to reduce harmful emissions by introducing the polluter-pays principle was first suggested in 2010 but has been postponed several times.
Mining companies, steelmakers and Eskom believe it will erode profit and push up the price of electricity.
South Africa is regarded as one of the worst polluters on the continent and is in the process of lowering emission in efforts to meet agreements on global climate change.
