Service stations empty as motorists complain of fuel hikes

Filling stations around Oshakati were mostly empty on Wednesday morning with no motorists in sight as many complained of high fuel prices.

Prices at Oshakati have risen to N$19,69 per litre for petrol and N$20,82 for diesel.

Josephine Nathingo, a petrol attendent at Oshana filling station told The Namibian that the fuel prices are not consumer friendly.

“Usually motorists will be lined up in long queues to fill up their vehicles, but today it is a different scenario and only a few are filling up their vehicles. If the situation continues like this, we might end up losing our jobs because filling stations might close down,” she said.

Simon Heita, a taxi operator in Oshakati said:

“This morning I only filled up my car with about N$60 because I cannot afford a full tank. Customers only pay us N$10 to take them places – they cannot afford to pay N$13, because they are struggling to make ends meet. We are suffering. I think the government must do something to bring us relief from these fuel prices,” he said.

Some taxi operators, who requested anonymity, said they prefer to fill their vehicles with smuggled fuel from Angola.

“I haven ‘t visited a filling station for months now. I drive all the way to Oshikango nearly every day to fill up my car with fuel from Angola and I return back to Oshakati in the afternoon,” one driver said.

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