Petrol strike not affecting motorists
As the petrol strike enters a second week, there seems to be no shortages of fuel at any petrol station in Middelburg.
The owner of the Kanonkop Engen, Christo de Ridder, said that they experienced a bit of a shortage last Friday, but this was quickly resolved and they avoided running dry.
“As far as I know there’s no shortage being experienced at any garage and deliveries of fuel are continuing as normal. Many delivery trucks have been re-routed as a result of the strike and other plans have been put into place to ensure there’s enough fuel for everyone.”
He said further from home there were some problems being experienced. Some petrol stations in eMalahleni ran dry over the weekend and protesters were preventing trucks from leaving the eMalahleni fuel depot.
“The Police were called in and are preventing protesters from blocking trucks leaving the depot. As a result we are once again receiving deliveries from Witbank,” he said.
The manager at Total Krugerpark in Cowen Ntuli Street also stated that they have enough fuel and so far experienced no shortages due to the strike.
Ben Rens, of Caltex Fresh Stop at the corner of Cowen Ntuli and OR Tambo Street, said that they have contractors delivering the fuel to them so they expect no problems.
“We only experienced a slight shortage last week when there was only one type of fuel available, but we received a delivery shortly afterwards,” he said.
The Shell Ultra City, which is currently serving heavy volumes of traffic due to the long weekend, said on Monday morning that they remain fully stocked and foresee no shortage in the short term.
“We are a priority site for Shell and continue to receive a reliable supply of fuel,” an employee said. He asked not to be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media.
He said that they were largely unaffected by the petrol strike. “We do not only rely on deliveries from the Witbank Depot as we receive fuel from around the country¨.
Over the weekend, the South African Petroleum Industry Association (Sapia) assured motorists that it’s doing its best to ensure fuel petrol is delivered to all stations. Around 15 000 members of the Chemical, Energy, Paper Printing, Wood and Allied Workers Union (Ceppwawu) went on strike last week over pay demands.
Negotiations between Chemical Energy Paper Printing Wood and Allied Workers Union and the association have reached yet another deadlock, with neither party willing to compromise on wages.
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