A fuel shortage has again hit most parts of Lusaka as the Fuel Tankers Drivers Association have gone on strike.
The Association has instructed its members not to uplift any Petroleum products from the fuel depots until Government responds to its demands.
The drivers want Government to ban the movement of fuel tankers beyond 18 hours to be effected.
And Energy Minister Dora Siliya has described the action by the drivers as tantamount to economic sabotage.
Ms. Siliya who met the Oil Marketing Companies today said Government appreciates the concerns of the drivers saying they are essential workers in the energy sector.
“We continue to be challenged by the strike action of the fuel tanker drivers. I humbly urge them to go back to loading fuel so that economic activities run smoothly. I met today with Oil Marketing Companies to ensure willing drivers load and deliver fuel safely,” Ms. Siliya said.
She added, “We appreciate some of the concerns raised by the drivers. However, Drivers are essential workers in the energy sector and we cannot condone economic sabotage especially when laid down communication procedures in a labour dispute are not followed.”
Ms. Siliya said the current strike is in fact as a result of one driver not following procedure while delivering fuel and refusing to follow lawful instructions.
“It has also become clear that some of the drivers requests are mixed with the tanker owners issues indicating collusion. I will meet with the fuel transporters tomorrow and will take the necessary action to normalise the situation. Your patience is most appreciated.”
Tribalism is from a very well known region of Zambia. They know themselves and they are power hungry. A good opposition party provides checks and balances rather than exihibiting proper desperation of power.
We want Zambian President and known a regional leader.
Zambia is a country for Zambians and not for one tribe.
Why do most T0ngas call the other 71 tribes as their house maids and servants???? WAtch out and you your brain properly when voting in August 2016 presidential elections.
And what’s that got to do with the problem in the energy sector??? Or are all the fuel tanker drivers Tongas????????
@SIMO: Your comment is completely out of topic. What has fuel shortage in Lusaka to do with tribalism. Better be quiet if you have nothing positive to contribute rather than publicly showing your tribalist attitude. Name one Tonga who has ruled Zambia as President since Independence in 1964. Lets all walk the One Zambia One nation motto, abash tribalism. Don’t be blinded by these politicians, behind doors they are not enemies as you may perceive. For cadres, just co-exist, Zambia belongs to all citizens and not to any single political party.
@Simo: Just stick to the news item instead of exposing your tribalist attitude. Why the hatred on Tonga people as if they are less Zambian?
SIMO
You are tribal and small minded because you see tribe first before anything else.
@SIMO Take your tribal ranting somewhere else!
Typical PF mentality! Blame everything and everyone else for your own incompetence and bungling. Except the real cause of the problem which is yourself!
these strikers are UPND cadres undermining PF GOVT…….
SIMO, you are a cursed creature for you have no brains. May you die sooner
What are you trying to say Simono? I don’t see the relationship with flue shortages that have hit Lusaka and the Tonga. Is there a genocide trait brewing in Zambia about Tonga by PF deranged cadres.
Mr President please stop this nonsense among your people.
What comes out of your mouth is who you supposedly are. From a psychoanalytic paradigm, you are projecting your own unpleasant tribal feelings on the ethnic group you hate. You surely will reap what you have planted in your psyche. The “One Zambia One Nation” maxim is today a political vote-attraction strategy by some Potential Failures.
@Simo, tribal talk has been banned by the president. You are the people that are promoting tribalism just because you are afraid of losing your jobs when UPND takes over after September. What language do you want the president to use. You sound like Kambwili who is insisting that that he ll take tribal hatred to all provinces in Zambia despite the presidential ban. You are advised to stop your tribal talk.
Fuel shortage and tribalism, I don’t see the connection. @ Simon you are very dull.
Simo, you need to debate on the fuel shortage and how it is affecting the economy. Chances are that you do not even understand how this affects productivity in our economy. Keep talking about tribalism which has been well nurtured by your part PF, to a point that you govt machinery all it talks about is tribalism.
The comment from SIMO is to sway the bloggers from debating the issue at hand. Let him tell us why we should vote Kaminamisa kabotolo again with all the hardships we have been subjected to. If PF wins in the coming elections no tonga will survive with this kind of hatred. If PF wins rental tax will be reinforced which means if you are renting you have to pay double as the owners of houses will increase to carter for tax. If PF wins the economy will be worse than it is now since they seem not to have any ideas on how to tackle the current situation. So someone tell me why I should vote PF again. If its about a road construction, Didnt MMD build roads?
Meet them TOMORROW????? What about the economy-in-shambles-TODAY???!!!
SIMO, please don’t ignore the doctor’s advice. Take your medicine regularly.
You sound like a very bad tribalist yourself. Stop being a tribalist, ONE ZAMBIA ONE NATIONS! You are a disgrace to our beloved country. Shame on you. True Zambians want to go forwards not backwards, there is no place in Zambia for your racism/tribalism, Zambia needs positive productive mature good thinking people for its recovery and future.
SIMO, you’re on the wrong forum. This article has nothing to do with tribalism. So take your comments to another suitable forum, please.
PF IS EXCUSES EXCUSES! BA PF KUWAYAWAYA FYE!!!
But why wait until there is a strike for you to intervene and harmonise positions? This is a reason you are losing support because as government you have “feelers” to inform you on upcoming developments in all areas of running the government but you have to wait till things get out of control! We are really too tired with this type of governance where even issues are not handled holistically and every time we are going back and forth! People are waiting for a fuel price reduction only to be greeted with a fuel shortage! Now people are telling you to stop importing maize and supplement the likely shortage with irrigated maize grown locally but you are not doing anything and you have not even told the nation your crop forecasts and start preparing people to eat expensive imported GMO…
sure this is economic sabotage and shud not be tolerated…these are our local companies and and wen the contract is given to other foreign companies they complain again…..deal with them smoothly siliya
The people fanning ECONOMIC SABOTAGE ARE PF!! PF HAVE SABOTAGED THIS ECONOMY MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE IN THE HISTORY OF THE COUNTRY!!! “Dora Taangalala”, just solve their problem without threatening them!!!
Just Comply kwasila what is wrong with this country is that you wait till all hell brakes loose… to react to a situation. Mu Chi nje
..sorry …to “stop importing maize” to read ..”to stop exporting..”
Government should just engage foreign fuel tankers why waste time on the local transporters this is a free market economy and those who don’t want to work leave them out and when hunger strikes they will come begging…
Government listened to the cries of local transporters to be awarded contracts for fuel haulage. You see now why oil marketing companies preferred foreign transporters?? Within a period of two months two disruptions on top of pilfering. A thieving driver found decanting fuel is shot at they join in soludarity and dowm tools!! Kuptsa!!. Hon Siliya revert to foreign transporters: fuel drives the economy mama this is an election year!! Leave locals to transporting malasha and kandolo which they are used to!!
Please someone explain to me this: “The drivers want Government to ban the movement of fuel tankers beyond 18 hours to be effected.”
Correct! Especially if no one is willing to pay the appropriate Overtime & the Roads remain as dangerous with Non-Road worthy cars etc prowling the roads – reduces risk of them getting involved in accidents with their Highly flammable cargo!!
If there’s such a ban, what’s wrong with effecting it? Either there’s a ban or there’s no ban. A ban on night transportation of fuel seems a very sensible thing to do. There are enough hours during daylight.
The strike and the ministers words are not even remotely related. Just like the PF and UPND cadres on here. Two sides of the same ugly coin.
Amen
Of course this is economic sabotage and requires emergency solutions. Bring in tankers from East Africa or South Africa. They can be here in two days, in fact just commandeer those tanker which are already in the country and returning to Kenya with empty trucks. And don’t forget to fire these drivers for economic sabotage and trying to hold the country to ransom. We have a long qeue of tanker drivers awaiting jobs.
Can we expect HH to qeue up Sata style with a 5 litre kunkubiti at the filling station tomorrow? Or do we expect his usual statements seeing an opportunity to raise a few votes? Opposers, what do you think, here is a blogging opportunity to insult Edgar. But the man is made of no common material, ninshimbi kateka twakwata!!
How can you praise a failed Presidency?
Prices keep going up;
Inflation rises daily;
The nation has been turned into a police state;
No freedom of association or movement;
Taxes increasing instead of lower taxes;
People are getting poorer instead of more money in the pocket;
Youths are jobless instead of more jobs;
Zambians dribbled out of a people driven constitution instead a PF document has been delivered
Corruption has been embraced as have been thugs and ex convicts who maim and harm people for PF
The Kwacha is at it’s weakest!!
These are the issues PF bloggers and Chagwa Lungu should be commenting on instead of tribal talk and insults.
With Edgar in State House you and I (including underfive) can sleep peacefully while he watches over ALL of us, since HH tells us that Edgar does not sleep at night, worrying about us!
This is the way it is with Zambians. They were busy complaining about lack of business since most of the businesses were given to foreign transporters. Government gives in and bans foreign transporters and what next, it’s strikes after strikes. That’s a Zambian for you. When Hon GL banned the importation of edible oil in order to protect the local industry, we experienced a drastic increase in the price of cooking oil. The only solution bwana Minister is please revert back to the original status quo and even if these good for nothing truckers complain, don’t listen to them. Otherwise, ill Lyashi likaya sana elo talyakapwe
@Simo ur very stupid this is a matter of serious concern and ur showing yo stupidty here instead of understand and commenting in line with the suject…we mbwaeee *****…dont u knw we are one…and this problem affects yo ass as well…be mature in yo comment
@ Simo. may the devil twist your Neck until you see your heels. ****** we. you are f.o.o.ls with chi chishimba, ka Frank, ka Hule ka mumbi Phiri, nachi Chama.
Holding any government at ransom is tatamount to treason. In short , it’s an economic sabotage.
@nzelu.. I hope these online can one day expose the true names of all of us and see the guys insulting and sending hate or tribal postings. I agree with you two ugly faces of the same impure coin. Surely the topic is about fuel and some impi somewhere posts something ordinarily out of the ordinary.
Carelesswhisper
You are a fool.How will they get news if they expose us?To use your equally foolish Kambwili s language “it is global”No responsible media will do what you are requesting for.
The stand off has nothing to do with economic sabotage. If that were the case WHY hasn’t PF arrested the saboteurs? Economic Sabotage is a criminal offense. This is just a product of failed leadership kwasila. This has nothing to do with the workers being Zambia, there are local who man more sensitive institutions but we do not experience such disruptions. For example bus drivers. Every day people ride on buses fron Ndola to Lusaka, Lundazi to Mugubudu and many other places. At no time did we ever have such nonsense. It is just failure by PF to manage a complex industry.
Zambia is Sinking into oblivion because of Concrete backward Schizophrenic characters like “Simo” who cannot see the wider picture, cannot tell his ar2e from his elbow, & is @ present squatting wide open mouthed howling to the moon, whilst barking up the wrong tree, far away from the topic on discussion here.
“Simo, please do us all a favour! Crawl back into your Cave where you belong.
Unfortunately this topic about energy problems, is way beyond your comprehension.
This is the more reason why indigenous Zambians should wake up and begin running the businesses in this country. Most of the fuel tankers owners are Indians and Somalians. And this Indian community is pro UPND. Just like they have done on the kwacha by keep buying dollars in bulk to keep the demand high now they have started playing with one of the most critical part of the economy ie Fuel. Honorable Siliya must not take this has a normal strike. Where on earth can a union leader disregard the instructions of the mother body he belongs to. Those are his seniors who have said their strike is illegal but he keeps on issuing contraly statements . These Indians who gathered on Sunday along Buyantashi Road with the tanker drivers are traitors to the good will of Zambians who received them in…
Indians who are in the fuel business should not take this country for a ride. The respect we have given them should not be abused. What will they gain from a collapsed economy. Is it because they have made money and they want now destroy the country from where they have made millions of dollars to educate their children and acquire properties in USA and UK. If they are sincere why do they pay these drivers such little money. Let them e the first to give these drivers the K10,000.00 monthly salaries they are looking for instead of influencing these drivers to down tools until government stops using foreign transporters. Where they not foreigners when they first came to Zambia. Tanker drivers be patriotic is it not one of these indians whose security shot your friend?
Whats the reasoning behind banning movement of tankers after 18:00hrs? If anything after 18:00hrs is best time when roads are less busy, its not like all corners of the country are connected by a rail network…if its accidents simply enforce speed limits of highways.
Its clear from reading this that gov’t has appallingly handled negotiations from the onset.
It’s not government to blame but the owners of the tankers . Speaking as a transporter you employ a driver and you agree on his salary if he is not happy you simply employ another there are thousands of them. It is the owners who are to blame imwe ba UPND
Fellow countrymen, stop replying TO people that issue trible
statements or trying to defend yourself.that what they want you to do. Let’s just debate on economic s and politics. I have learnt a lot from intelligent comments on many issues from some bloggers
Jay Jay, with due respect, driving at night in Zambia is fraught with danger from broken down and wrongly parked vehicles in unsigned and dark places. Scores of people die every year from night time driving accidents. I understand that in Botswana, heavy goods vehicles are not allowed to be driven beyond 20:00. It is just not worth it. Don’t blame the police or RTSA. They don’t mount speed traps at night and hardly venture outside towns on night patrols.
The drivers request government to ban tanker movement after 18hrs and a government full of ifipuba thinks it is sabotage and have failed to resolve that surely!
Please do not come out complaining. Always have a contigency plan for such eventualities even in the midst of sabotage. Government’s role is to plan and facilitate.
I thought night driving for dangerous goods(inflammable goods) is good. At night the weather is cooler and prevents truckers or tanker catching fire. which is which? I think nikani ya pay check not driving after 18hrs. Or ban them 6 am to 6 pm like Acid tankers.
Fire tanker drivers.They cannot hold us at ransom.Are they employed by Government?Are they not private sector?Stealing of fuel among tanker drivers has to end.I know it is costly……why not get foreign tanker drivers to deliver fuel at our depots.They should not complain….what condition of service are they talking about?Those who employed them are responsible for their allowances,salaries and other incentives.Nonsense……only here in Zambia.Try to compare to other Countries.Our neighbor here Tanzania.The President Magufuli has banned mini skirts,short dress and seducer dancing to preserve culture.He has given them three weeks.Who ever abrogates the directive will be arrested.As simple as that.TANKER DRIVERS HAVE BOYCOTTED TO LOAD FUEL .Shame….