Public transporters down tools
Lebogang Mosikare | Saturday May 21, 2022 21:01
The public transporters who are mostly members of the Botswana Bus, Trucks and Taxi Association (Francistown chapter) say the high prices of fuel have necessitated the need for them to down tools because they are no longer making profit from their businesses.
They bemoan that what is currently happening since the increase in fuel prices is tantamount to “doing charity work” for them in the once lucrative sector of the economy.
The current downing of tools is happening when the economy is struggling with the government still in the midst of battling to contain the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Millions of pula were used to contain the pandemic.
In addition, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated the increase of fuel prices in Botswana and globally.
The current stand off has negative implications on various sectors of the economy.
According to Global Edge (a source for global business knowledge), the past two years have been crazy for many industries, including the oil market.
“Crude oil was sliding into the negatives early on in the pandemic. However, the price has surpassed $100 per barrel recently. The global benchmark, Brent crude oil, was trading above $130 per barrel this past week. Since gas prices primarily depend on oil prices, there has been a significant increase in gas prices worldwide. Many reasons led to this increase, some weighing more than others,” says global Edge.
One reason is that gasoline demand is returning to normal. As COVID-19 cases decrease and the vaccination rate increases, people start to travel again. The increase in the gasoline demand might have contributed to the rise in prices, as per global Edge.
“Another reason might be due to labour and supply-chain complications resulting from COVID-19. However, the main factor is most likely due to the supply side with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russia is a significant exporter of oil. With countries worldwide protesting Russia's invasion, many governments are thinking about removing Russian oil from its intake. Volatility in any market causes panic and thus raises prices,” global Edge said, adding that organisations around the world are thinking of solutions to relieve the tension.
“The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Plus (OPEC+) said that it would increase output by 400,000 barrels every day in April. However, this is still a tiny fraction of Russia's oil production. Countries within the International Energy Agency (IEA) have also agreed to release 60 million barrels of crude from their reserves to relieve the high prices. This move further increased market panic despite its good intentions. This situation is continuing to evolve. Hopefully, countries will work together to develop a comprehensive recovery plan to ease consumer stress and lower record-breaking prices in the near weeks.”
Most public transporters who spoke to Mmegi on condition of anonymity lament that since the increase of fuel price recently, they are operating at great losses.
They therefore, made a clarion call to the government to subsidise fuel prices or alternatively increase the fares of public transport again following their increase in January this year.
The transporters vowed to carry on with their industrial action until the government accedes to their demands.
During a visit to the Francistown transport terminus, Mmegi found that it was nearly empty with a few taxis and buses packed in the terminal.
The Mmegi team also found out that transporters who had stopped working were blocking their colleagues from transporting passengers to various destinations.
So bad was the situation that one taxi driver was nearly manhandled by his colleagues after he attempted to transport passengers to Monarch after filling up his taxi.
The taxi driver ended up abandoning to transport the passengers much to their chagrin as they had no choice but to disembark from the taxi and wait for a miracle to happen.
The Mmegi team also found out that many students who were going to various destinations in and around the city were caught in the stand off.
The Mmegi team also discovered that a few public transporters were surreptitiously transporting passengers at the parking lot of Nswazwi Mall for fear of “betraying the struggle”.
In addition, Mmegi found out that other public transporters had parked their cars at the Chedu Choga football grounds - a major public space in Francistown that was used as a focal point by striking public sector employees in 2011 during the longest public sector strike in the history of unionism in Botswana dubbed, “The Mother of all Strikes”.
The treasurer of the Botswana Bus, Trucks and Taxi Association (Francistown), Dusani Tafila said the reason why public transporters have embarked on industrial action is because of the high fuel prices.
“Our big issue is that it is expensive to fuel our cars since the increase of fuel sometimes around March. We recently tried to negotiate with the government to find a way of helping us from this economic hardship to no avail. This impasse can be solved if the government increases fares for public transport. Right now a litre of petrol costs around P16,49 while a taxi makes P28 from a single trip of transporting four passengers. If other incidental operational costs are factored into what a taxi makes from a single trip, it becomes clear that we are making losses from operating public transport. We have families to take care of but at the rate at which fuel prices are increasing, we can no longer afford to transport passengers,” said Tafila.