Mbabane: The continued shortage of fuel at the government’s garage, Central Transport Administration (CTA) in Mbabane, has resulted in some of the workers lying idle and having little to do.
The same situation has been reported at the Matsapha CTA.
A trip to the Mbabane garage showed very slow movement in relation to the past where a hive of activity was the order of the day with a convoy of government vehicles lining up for refueling. Workers were found loitering the premises with obviously very little to do.
An insider at the CTA, who preferred anonymity, admitted that activity at the garage was very slow and attributed it to lack of fuel. “This doesn’t mean that there is no work done at the garage as government vehicles still come through for servicing, but, relatively, there is little that is done as the convoy of government vehicles that came in for refueling kept a lot of the workers busy,” said the source.
The insider said as a result of the government fuel tanks running dry at the Central Transport Administration (CTA), some government vehicles were grounded.
Dry
The vehicles are now taken to departments like the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) and the Eswatini National Fire and Emergency Services (NFES) garages. Reportedly, the fuel at the above mentioned government departments is also running dry and there is a huge possibility of their own cars ceasing operation.
“There are essential services like the police, health and the fire departments which cannot afford to cease operation but with the persisting shortage of fuel, such is a possibility,” said an inside source. In fact, it is alleged that all government vehicles will be rendered useless, if a solution cannot be found very soon.
He alleged that the shortage is caused by government’s cash flow challenges which had been experienced by the country since the economic meltdown started even before the Covid-19 outbreak.
General Transport Manager at the CTA, Washington Khumalo, admitted that business at the government garage was not as usual and referred further questions pertaining to fuel to the ministry of public works.
When the Road Transportation Director in the Ministry of Public Works and Transport Mduduzi Lukhele was sought for a comment he asked for a questionnaire to be sent to him but at the time of publication he had not responded.
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