By Karabo Rammutla
Thousands of commuters in Tshwane arrived to work late while others couldn’t reach their destinations at all on Tuesday.
The bus service was suspended after the City of Tshwane Municipality failed to pay the service provider who supplies fuel.
Commuters waited at bus stations across the city but not a single bus arrived. They had not been told that there would be no buses and no alternative transportation was provided.
This is not the first time that the service provider hasn’t been paid, late last year passengers were stranded due to non-payment of the service provider.
Passenger Lovemore Nakai said if he loses his job, it will be because of the city.
“I have a verbal warning because of arriving late due to their forever-late buses. Today because I didn’t go to work it will be a written warning.
“I bought a monthly ticket and I have no money at all. They should have at least told us in advance that there won’t be any buses so that we could make other plans,” he told Scrolla.Africa.
Another commuter, Maphuti Seroba, said the mayor was incompetent.
“This is happening for the second time. Why are they making the same mistake of not paying service providers? I had to take an uber to work,” she said.
“Clearly the mayor and his team get their salaries for free – they are not working!”
Maphuti said the new administration has collapsed the city.
“They don’t pay fuel service providers, they don’t pay Eskom, they don’t pay Rand water and they sometimes pay staff salaries late. An administrator must take over the municipality.”
Tshwane City spokesperson, Lindela Mashigo, said the municipality regrets the unavailability of buses due to fuel shortages.
He said all the city’s three fuel stations are currently empty following non-delivery of fuel by their service providers.
“It is not yet clear as to when normal operations will resume. However, the city is engaging the service providers with the hope of returning TBS operations to full capacity soonest,” he said.
Pictured above: A commuter leaves a bus station in Sunnyside Pretoria as buses services are suspended due to fuel shortages
Image source: Karabo Rammutla
