Some retailers selling paraffin in Gugulethu on the Cape Flats say they cannot keep up with the current demand for the fuel, which has skyrocketed because of the cold and wet conditions Cape Town has been experiencing recently.
Currently, residents pay up to R30 a litre for illuminating paraffin in winter.
The price rose by 22 cents a litre, and poor communities say it is going to be a massive struggle to keep up with the cost of living.
Nicky Mbulwana who is the owner of the KMS Kasi Paraffin store in Gugulethu says she sells up to 10 000 litres of paraffin a day at a cost of around R14.
She says most of her supply usually sells out by lunchtime every day during winter.
“We usually experience a shortage of paraffin every year around mid-June and mid-July. So this crisis happens every year. Mid-winter then the paraffin is short, the prices go up and you find people looking all over for it because there is a shortage.”
The South African Petroleum Association has not been immediately available to comment on the reported paraffin shortage in the Cape Flats.
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