Durban - Vehicle owners beware. The number of fuel stations selling diesel mixed with paraffin across the country is on the rise.
Experts said this could be seen in the dramatic increase in the amount of illuminating paraffin imported to South Africa.
The Automobile Association (AA) this week urged motorists to be alert the next time they filled up.
The organisation said it was important to get out of the vehicle and be part of the process to see what was going into your tank.
The warning comes amid growing concerns that diesel is being mixed with paraffin, something which could result in long-term mechanical problems to your vehicles.
AA spokesman Layton Beard said even if motorists could not see the colour or consistency of the diesel, at least they would know that what was put into the vehicle had been on a marked pump. They would know what nozzle had been used.
“You can't just sit in your car, you need to get out of the car and be part of it,” he urged.
Minerals and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe sounded the alarm about the adulteration of diesel on Wednesday, telling parliament about the proliferation of fuel stations where paraffin was mixed with diesel and sold to unwitting drivers.
Mantashe said the increase in the import of illuminating paraffin as well as samples collected at service stations confirmed what was happening and that investigations were under way.
He urged those involved in this scam to stop immediately.
“It is illegal. Service stations found with adulterated diesel will face immediate closure and prosecution,” Mantashe warned.
Vishal Premlall from the South African Petroleum Retailers Association (Sapra), which had about 800 members, confirmed Mantashe’s warning.
He said that since November 2020 at least 200 cases of illicit trading, which included diesel adulteration and operating without the necessary permits or licences, had been received.
To his knowledge it was happening countrywide, especially in Limpopo and Mpumalanga.
“We are on an active drive to bring awareness to consumers and the industry,” said Premlall.
Sapra had established a whistleblower hotline as part of its measures to combat illicit trading in the industry.
“Anyone (motorists and retailers) can become a victim. It is our role to advise them what the penalties will be for non-compliance,” said Premlall.
He said the reports of adulterated fuel and other transgressions had started pouring in since November 2020 when a petroleum compliance forum was formed.
This forum consisted of a broad range of industry stakeholders, the police and SARS.
Kevin Baart is the head of strategic projects and regulation at the South African Petroleum Industry Association which represents the main petroleum and liquefied petroleum gas companies in the country.
He said vehicle owners would not necessarily see or feel the effects of adulterated diesel on their cars or trucks immediately.
However, if diesel was too cheap they should take note.
“You won’t pick it up by smell, you won’t pick it up by feel (of the fuel going into the tank), you just need to listen to the noise of the engine. Sometimes it causes damage, sometimes it doesn’t,” said Baart.
However, government intervention markers were inserted into paraffin and if the paraffin was mixed into diesel the markers would pick this up.
“They then have these handheld devices which SARS officials use to detect the presence of the marker and when they detect it they know there is a problem,” Baart said.
He said a few years ago some unscrupulous dealers tried to leach the paraffin marker out of the fuel by adding a mixture of HTH and water to diesel, but currently it was very difficult to get rid of the marker.
Baart said based on long-term sales data, the base consumption of illuminating paraffin in the country was roughly about 600 000 kilolitres per annum but over the past three years or so it had sharply risen to about 1.2 million kilolitres per annum.
“In fact it has more than doubled and that doesn’t make sense from the point of view that indigent people are the ones who really use illuminating paraffin. While the number of indigent people have probably grown over the past number of years, that wouldn’t equate to the doubling of illuminating paraffin demand. So I would say you probably have at least 600 000 kilolitres of paraffin being dumped into diesel.“
Baart said sometimes service station owners or franchisees would accept drops (deliveries of fuel) from unscrupulous routers but generally the oil companies themselves tried to control the problem of adulteration because when the sales of a service station which pumped 300 000 litres per month plummeted to 250 000 litres per month, it was clear something was out of order.
“I think the problem lies more with the smaller people who are not branded, who are doing these things.”
He said in many places in the Johannesburg area and other parts of Gauteng, for instance, cheap diesel was advertised and motorists often drove past these tanks.
“And the problem with those people is that if you fill up at that wholesaler, you have no guarantee of fuel quality. They can put junk into your vehicle and If your vehicle breaks you have no recourse.
“Hopefully the branded sites give you some assurance of quality,” he said.
He cited an example of one retailer whose sales had escalated dramatically and who raised suspicion when he was able to suddenly afford two helicopters.
The Independent on Saturday