The politics of petrol
Had an unwelcome memory from the past come back to me last Monday - I sat in a petrol queue! It was over half a kilometre long!
We all - black, white, asian, taxi drivers, managers, housewives - became one again, all through zanupf’s mismanagement and destruction of a once-beautiful country! All trying to be patient, all trying to help each other along with jokes and idle chat as we sweltered in the early winter sun, or sighing with relief as we passed a shady tree.
I did finally manage to fill up my tank with my temper intact, no thanks to the owner of the Burnside Garage (corner of Burnside Road and Arnold Way in Bulawayo). He is a pig! Speaking to one of the guys in the queue, he was there alone because his wife had been banned from the filling station.
Her crime? She had the audacity to complain that they were happily filling up queue-jumpers (most other garages turn away this kind of low-life in the interests of fairness and public order)! And she is in good company - many others who have stood up for fair play have been turned away.
To start with, the queue sat for over an hour as car after car of ‘favoured customers’ were waved in ahead of the queue. A few days later they were “employees of Southern Petroleum”. Yeah right!
Justice will come one day, Mr Burnside Garage, just as sure as the sun will come up tomorrow!
Oh, by the way Mr Burnside Garage, we’re all still wondering: where does a man with a politically-incorrect skin colour manage to get petrol and diesel aplenty - for six consecutive days - when most other garages in Bulawayo are running dry, or have already run dry……..?
