Preliminary investigations have revealed that 70 fuel stations in South Africa are selling compromised diesel, four of which are located in the Western Cape.
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Tseliso Maqubela, the deputy director-general of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, says that besides the fact that the dangerous practice can seriously damage vehicles, it is also a form of tax evasion.
He also fears that the issue might become more widespread as the department continues its investigations. However, he doubts that the watered-down diesel would be found at ‘big-name reputable’ service stations.
‘You don’t find the non-compliance samples from your major dealers that are linked to major oil companies. It is the ones that are run by non-refining wholesalers…unfamiliar brands.’
The department informed the South African Revenue Service (SARS) of the non-compliant retailers to recoup money that is owed to the state after it received 70 out of 1 000 failed diesel samples.
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Maqubela told Businesstech that the department also issued letters of non-compliance to the identified retailers, for which they are to argue why they should not be shut down.
He adds that the safest option would be to rather fill up at reputable service stations, as motorists are ‘highly unlikely to find a sample that has been adulterated’, stating that large corporations ‘wouldn’t risk being on the opposite side of the revenue authorities given the size of their companies’.
According to Robert Maake, the director of fuel pricing at the Department of Energy, the 70 fuel stations sold the compromised diesel between April and December last year.
However, the names of the fuel stations implicated in the investigation can not be revealed due to the Promotion of Access to Information Act.
He told EWN that the service stations have 14 days to respond to the compliance notices. ‘If they don’t respond within 14 days, they will be given a final notice, which also indicates they did respond and they will be given another 14 days,’ he says. ‘If they still do not respond, then the department will initiate the process to cancel their operational licence.’
In 2022, Mineral Resource and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe warned service stations that the practice of mixing diesel with paraffin is illegal and that they will ‘face immediate closure and prosecution’.
Here are the figures for service stations found selling fake or comprised diesel:
Mpumalanga: 9
Limpopo: 15
North West: 13
KwaZulu-Natal: 13
Gauteng: 5
Western Cape: 4
Free State: 4
Eastern Cape: 1
Northern Cape: 6
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