WATCH | Last-minute dash to beat the midnight petrol price increase

Motorists are rushing to fill their tanks before the fuel hike at midnight on Tuesday.

Some filling stations have anticipated an influx of customers and are limiting purchases to 40 litres per person. One garage in Pretoria expected to run out of fuel by Tuesday afternoon.

A Shell Garage manager, who did not want to be named, said he had noticed an influx of customers in the morning, many with drums and cans.

“Since this morning, we’ve been busy. I can’t say it’s a normal rush hour compared to other days because everyone wants to fill up before the price hike tonight. We are experiencing a high volume of cars, taxis and private vehicles.

“What we have in supply now is petrol, but the diesel is almost finished. By the afternoon, the filling station will probably be empty. Right now, it’s about coming earlier; the earlier, the better. We don’t have any reserve,” he said.

On Tuesday afternoon, the government announced that as of Wednesday a litre of petrol would cost R3.06 more, while diesel will see a significantly higher hike of between R7.37 and R7.51 a litre.

One customer, Sabelo Zikhali from Kagiso on the West Rand, said there was no petrol available in his neighbourhood.

“We’ve been looking for a place to fill up because stations are limiting how much we can buy. The increase is hitting us hard because it’s not something we budgeted for,” Zikhali said.

Astron Energy Fountain owner Zivan Smith said he started limiting customers to 40 litres last week.

“We’ve been rationing diesel since last Wednesday because we don’t receive full loads and we don’t want to give everyone too much and run out. We are capping each customer at 40 litres."

Dakalo Nangambi, a motorist, said his family will have to look at cutting back on expenses.

“With the increase, I’d go from R1,200 for a full tank to R1,800. The school transport for my children will increase, and we might have to even cut back on certain groceries, maybe even changing to cheaper food brands,” Nangambi said.

Garages were buzzing in Ekurhuleni with motorists queuing to fill up.

A resident in Boksburg said she had driven to more than three garages, which all had long queues.

Long-distance trucker Siphiwe Ganyisa usually pays about R11,000 or R12,000 to fill his 300-litre truck with diesel.

“With the price rise, I expect an increase of about R3,000, meaning I may be paying around R14,000 to R15,000. This will greatly affect my mobility, with some garages already offering far less fuel than the capacity of the truck.

“Some garages said they could give me only 50 litres, which gets me 200km, and I travel more than 1,000km.”

Cross-border trucker Nico Khanyile says the price has also increased in other countries.

“Just last week, I was in Gabarone, Botswana, where some people are back to using donkeys for transport because they can’t keep up with the costs.

“Even though my tank is 380 litres, I was limited to 300 litres of diesel at the garage.”

Sowetan