DOZENS of Mahatshula residents and passing motorists helped themselves to free cooking oil after a trailer carrying the commodity disengaged from a truck and fell by the roadside yesterday along the Bulawayo Harare road.
The truck was coming from South Africa en-route to Zambia
when the incident occurred late in the afternoon.
When a Chronicle arrived at the scene the Bulawayo Fire
Brigade, police and the Environmental Management Agency were already on site.
The emergency services struggled to ward off the people who were pushing and
shoving to collect the liquid.
The Fire Brigade resorted to spraying the crowds with water
in a bid to control them to no avail as people were determined to get free
cooking oil.
The driver of the truck who declined to be identified said
he was carrying 33 tonnes of the edible oil when the smaller 8-tonne trailer
disengaged. He could not tell how much litres were in the trailer which fell
some metres off the busy highway.
“I cannot say much because I don’t want to be in the media,
but I just felt a strong push and the trailer was swinging from different
directions. The trailer then disengaged and overturned by its side. I am not
hurt and the rest of the truck is okay. I could not do anything to stop people
from looting,” he said.
A resident, Mr Godknows Matumbu said he was drinking beer
at a nearby bottle store when he received the news and rushed to the scene.
“I don’t know what exactly transpired as I was relaxing
with friends at a bottle store. I received a call from a friend telling me to
rush with containers to collect cooking oil. We filled 40 litres but it was not
easy due to the disorder. Cooking oil is very expensive so this will push us,”
he said as he hurried back home carrying a 20-litre container.
Another man from the suburb who refused to reveal his
identity said he drove to the scene after getting the “good” news.
He said he initially hesitated thinking the truck was carrying petrol, but when he got assurance that it was cooking oil he joined the crowd.
“We don’t know what happened for the trailer to be on its
side but as you can see we have the cooking oil. We brought a number of
containers and we have filled almost all of them. For now, I cannot say what we
will do with them. What is important is that we have cooking oil. They poured
water on us and we retreated for a little while and returned,” he said.
Another resident Mr Njabuliso Maphosa said he was driving
to the city centre to collect water when he saw people collecting the cooking
oil.
“I stopped my car and asked what people were collecting and
when they said cooking oil I put on hold the water mission and joined the
crowd. I managed to fill a 20-liter container which I will take home. But I
made sure that it was not petrol because with the explosions associated with
petrol when such incidents happen, this would have been a disaster,” he said
Ms Mercy Dube said she was relaxing at home when she was
called by her neighbours and also rushed with containers. She said she will
send some of her loot to her family in her rural home.
“We ran here with our containers after being told of what
had happened. We are very happy for the oil and the fact that no one was
injured. But the pushing and shoving is what I fear may cause injuries because
the ground is now slippery due to the spill.
At least we will save by not buying oil now and we also
share my relatives back home,” she said.
Miss Marvellous Gwenzi said it was tough for women as men
used their muscle to push them aside. EMA Provincial Environmental Quality
Officer Mr Fredrick Maponga said they are investigating the incident.
Mr Maponga warned members of the public to desist from
collecting liquids from trucks that would have been involved in incidents as
that poses danger to them. Chronicle
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