It was panic at the pumps across the Tshwane region, with filling stations starting to run dry as the fuel and metal industry strikes dragged on on Thursday.
Long queues formed at the dwindling number of garages that could help drivers with petrol as worried motorists filled their vehicles, uncertain how long the strike might last.
According to the Fuel Retailers Association, at least 150 service stations in Gauteng and 50 in KwaZulu-Natal were without petrol on Thursday.
At some city filling stations, diesel was available..
In Centurion, the queue at the Highveld Total Garage, the only filling station in the area that still had petrol, stretched into the street.
Owner Riaan Rautenbach explained: “I had a refill on Tuesday and as soon as filling stations ran out in Joburg yesterday, the traffic here increased.”
Rautenbach said business usually slowed down after 6pm, but on Thursday petrol attendants were kept busy until 2am. By 5am on Thursday, the queues were reaching the street.
“We can run out any time now, though,” Rautenbach said as more cars pulled up.
At another garage in Centurion, panel beater X van der Walt pulled up with a trailer full of diesel tanks and asked the attendants to fill them.
“This will last me at least two weeks, after which my business will come to a standstill,” Van der Walt said.
He said his business depended on the availability of diesel.
Diesel was the only fuel available at that filling station.
“We ran out of petrol very early this morning and we are not even on the schedule for delivery,” manager Jakes van Biljon said.
In the Doringkloof and Lyttelton areas, petrol pump attendants at three garages were gesturing to drivers wanting to turn into the forecourt that they had run out of petrol.
First to run out in many cases was unleaded petrol, and drivers had to fill their tanks with lead replacement petrol.
Leaders of the SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) met on Thursday to decide if 220 000 workers across the country would down tools in solidarity with their metalworking and chemical industry comrades.
They are to announce their decision next week. According to Samwu spokesman Tahir Sema, the decision to join the strike will not be taken lightly.
“The decision will be taken only if all other avenues are exhausted. A strike is a last resort,” he said.
National Union of Metalworkers SA spokesman Castro Ngobese said the union would welcome Samwu’s joining the strike.
“Samwu are our allies and it is the bargaining season. If they join, it gives us the numbers to force employers to meet our demands.”
The strike has been marred by incidents of intimidation and violence against non-strikers. This has led at least one association to get a court order to stop striking workers at more than 55 factories from coming within 60m of their properties.
The Plastic Converters Association of SA applied to the Labour Court for the order at the end of last week.
CEO Johan Pieterse said while the association agreed with workers’ right to strike, “they are destroying property and we have a right to be protected”.
He said the order was having the desired effect, with strikers keeping a distance after police told them of the new boundaries around the factories.
Fuel retailers have tried a similar approach, asking the government to intervene. “The situation is worsening,” said Fuel Retailers Association CEO Reggie Sibiya.
The association had approached the Department of Energy after contingency plans failed to keep petrol stations stocked.
Sibiya said the association was set to approach the Department of Labour to see if it could facilitate a speedy resolution to the dispute.
The Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers Union (Ceppwawu) joined the strike on Monday, with striking depot workers preventing petrol from being delivered to filling stations.
Ceppwawu represents 70 000 workers. According to its first deputy president, Peter Rapoo, the petroleum, chemical, pharmaceutical and fast-moving goods industries are most affected by the strike.
Solidarity has also joined the strike in protest at huge pay hikes for Sasol executives. - Pretoria News