FUEL WOES: SOME MOTORISTS BREACH CURFEW

MBABANE – Some motorists have been found to have contravened curfew regulations due to the fuel woes currently being experienced in the country.

The motorists have since raised concerns over the curfew hours not being favourable to them, more especially during the current fuel shortage crisis in Eswatini. The fuel shortage that hit the country saw fuel stations not functioning normally. Over and above, the curfew hours added to the motorists’ frustrations as after queueing for hours, they would sometimes be forced to return home without having refuelled their vehicles due to the curfew hours. Eswatini curfew hours start at 6pm to 5am and is one of the longest curfews in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Region.

Curfew

Government announced the curfew as a means to minimise the spread of COVID-19. Some of the motorists who were interviewed yesterday morning at Mbabane Galp Filling Station at Eveni and in the Mbabane Central Business District (CBD), said they started queueing from as early as 4am which was within the curfew hours. They said they had no choice, but to bend the regulations to get fuel. They said they wanted to be early so that when the stations started operating at 6am, they would be the first in the queue. Yesterday, Galp Filling Station at Eveni, Galp Filling Station in the city centre, Engen Filling Station at Woodlands and Puma Filling Station, were the only filling stations fuelling cars in Mbabane. However, some of the filling stations had to close early as they ran out of fuel. At the Engen Filling Station, which is adjacent to Galp, only diesel was available.

Minister of Natural Resources and Energy Peter Bhembe acknowledged the complaint about the curfew hours’ effect on motorists during the present situation. He said government had been engaging with relevant stakeholders in finding a solution to the fuel predicament and crafting a way out of the curfew hours. He said they had a meeting on Tuesday where the issue of the curfew hours was also deliberated. He said the ministry would soon announce the changes that they hoped would assist emaSwati not to continue suffering that much when it came to fuel challenges. He said in their meeting, they addressed a number of issues which included the fuel issues within government and said all the changes would be detailed and published in due course.
Bhembe said as the country had resolved to source fuel from Mozambique, he was hopful that would be of great help in ensuring that pumps didn’t run dry. On Tuesday, the minister urged the public not to resort to panic buying of fuel. He assured the public that in as much as the service stations would not have fuel at the same time; the country would not entirely run dry. The minister said despite the disruption, oil companies, working with all relevant stakeholders, were making means to ensure that there was fuel in the country. He added that he was hopeful that the situation would improve each day as companies were employing alternative measures.

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