One thing I have noticed over the years is how much we need to travel across this country because our towns are very far apart. We have cultural and family reasons for travelling, like going to weddings in the traditional areas or attending get-togethers, which are considered must-attend events like the Herero flag days. These are things we must do to keep our families together across the generations.
I have become a user of Yango and can see the pain when they have to fill up. None of them are saying "fill her up"; rather, they are calculating how much of their cash they can use right now.
The petrol price is getting completely out of hand for the ordinary citizen. The latest announcement from the Ministry of Mines and Energy means that from Wednesday, 4 November 2026, petrol will go up by N$2.00 per litre and diesel will jump by N$3.00 per litre. This means prices will be higher at places further from the coast, such as Oshakati or Keetmanshoop.
Most people get angry at the government or the big international oil companies when these hikes happen. But the people who are quietly suffering the most are our local petrol station owners. They are just trying to keep their doors open while their daily expenses keep going up.
So where is the problem? I believe the problem is with how our laws allocate the share to the petrol station. The law fixes the profit margin that a petrol station owner makes on a single litre of fuel. It does not change when the pump price moves.
To make it plain, if the law says the owner makes two Dollars on a litre, they only get that two Dollars. When a customer has N$50 in their hand, they do not buy the same number of litres. They just hand over their N$50 note and get less fuel in their tank. The petrol station still receives the same N$50, but they are selling fewer litres of fuel. Because their profit is made from how many litres they sell, and not how much money they get. This means the owner is making less money while they still have to keep the business running.
The government has been using the National Energy Fund to pay the extra costs from overseas so that fuel prices do not completely break the household budget. They paid out N$384 million in October alone to help keep pump prices stable. But this fund is running out of money after absorbing these shocks since April. The government had to raise the prices now because otherwise the entire fund would go empty and leave the country vulnerable.
We do not want a system where companies can change the price every hour but our laws must protect local fuel sellers by letting their margins expand slightly when sales volumes drop. This lets them pay their workers and keep their doors open.
We have to talk about this because it affects not only the petrol station owners and their employees, but also us when we need to fill up to get to our friend's wedding.
