GOVT BANS BUYING PETROL IN CONTAINERS

MBABANE – After the setting alight of public and private properties by looters together with protesters in the ongoing public unrest, government has banned the public from purchasing petrol and loading it in containers.

Instead, only petrol that will be filled directly into motor vehicle tanks will be allowed. This move, which is with immediate effect, has been announced by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy. “The Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy kindly informs the public that filling of fuel into containers at the fuel service station/filling stations has been suspended for safety reasons. This will be implemented with immediate effect,” reads a statement issued yesterday by Minister Peter Bhembe. Chairman of the Swaziland Consumer Association Bongani Mdluli said they appreciated government’s concern but each and every case must be dealt on its own because there might be genuine cases that call for the purchasing of fuel in containers. He said there should be flexibility in certain instances where, for instance, there might be queues in the filling stations and the convenient option is to use containers. “In other cases you might want to buy petrol and diesel at the same time; because you cannot drive both cars at the same time, you will have to fill either the petrol or the diesel in a container,” he said.

blanket statement

Mdluli said government could not issue a blanket statement just like that because each and every case should be determined on its own. “There are genuine cases where you look at the person who is buying the fuel who you might find is really pressed to buy in containers so that they could go back home to fill their cars. If I come with a 25 litre and I am known in that filling station, who then can I bomb? Much as we do appreciate the concern and we are cognisant of the fact that some people later abuse that petrol but there are instances where proper judgment should be applied,” he said. He said one might need to buy fuel in containers for cars that are parked in their yard and in the same breath appreciated government’s concern that there were those individuals who might raise suspicion, which he believed could be in rare cases, which would only be then that this ban could be applied. “The issue of safety is also important and we cannot ignore it but we should not inconvenience everyone. Each and every case should be determined on its own because there are genuine cases,” he reiterated.

Efforts to get comment from the Fuel Retailers Association failed to materialise as Chairman Mduduzi Nyoni did not respond to questions that were sent to him. As reported by Eswatini News yesterday, property that could be estimated, unofficially, at E500 million, was allegedly destroyed by the protesters in the past couple of days by having buildings, cars and sugarcane fields burnt down. Some of the businesses that have been destroyed include Bandag Tyres at the Mbabane Industrial Site; TOP ten Cash and Carry and V-Best Wholesalers, which are both situated at the Sidwashini Industrial Site in Mbabane. The Fire and Emergency Department has been blamed for taking too long to respond to calls to attend to these fire outbreaks.

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