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By Celani Sikhakhane
- Private car owners in KwaMashu had to drive 45 minutes to Durban city centre at night to find available petrol.
- New Hanover Garage near Pietermaritzburg capped trucks at 40 litres and diesel vehicles at 25 litres due to supply shortages.
Taxi associations in KwaMashu Township, north of Durban, temporarily banned private vehicles from filling up at local petrol stations on Tuesday. The decision was made to reserve fuel for minibus taxis.
The ban caused confusion among motorists, many of whom did not understand why they were being turned away.
Some residents had to drive more than 45 minutes to Durban city centre at night to find petrol.
Lindiwe Ntshaba from C Section was one of them. She told Scrolla.Africa she had to leave the area to look for fuel because all the filling stations in KwaMashu were only letting minibus taxis fill up.
“I think this happened because many taxi associations have working relationships with certain garages. Those relationships include the parking of their minibus taxis at night, as others avoid parking their cars at home due to the high rate of crime,” Ntshaba said.
In other areas, drivers were not allowed to fill up for more than R500 at a time so that more people could access fuel.
Rural filling stations and depots were also badly affected. New Hanover Garage, outside Pietermaritzburg, capped trucks at 40 litres and diesel vehicles at 25 litres.
Customers were also not allowed to fill containers. Wartburg Fuels put similar temporary limits in place per customer.
The shortages have hit the agricultural sector hard, with farming operations being delayed.
Pictured above: A taxi rank.
Image source: File
