The country could experience a fuel shortage crisis from Tuesday as millions return to work after the Easter holidays, the SA Fuel Retailers Association warned on Monday.

Said spokesperson Reggie Sibiya: "We are now calling on government and oil companies to beef up security to enable deliveries to avoid a build up to a crisis beyond Tuesday."

The ongoing SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu)'s wage strike had seen 300 patrol stations across the country run dry with retailers in the townships most affected.

"The [Easter] weekend was a plateau in terms of delivery but commercial customers are coming back tomorrow. Everybody is going back to work and this is going to increase demand," he said.

"The longer the fuel strike takes the backlog will also increase. If we hadn't had this [long weekend] relief, we may already have been in a crisis," Sibiya said.