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Gwede Mantashe warns against panic buying amid rising fuel supply fears

Daily Maverick · 🇿🇦 public South Africa · · 960 words · By Neesa Moodley
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Daily briefing

What to know about Gwede Mantashe warns against panic buying amid rising fuel supply fears

Our crude oil is sourced from Africa, not in the Middle East,” Minister Gwede Mantashe of the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR) told the National Assembly on Wednesday, 25 March.

Claims checked 19
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center100%
Right0%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Our crude oil is sourced from Africa, not in the Middle East,” Minister Gwede Mantashe of the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR) told the National Assembly on Wednesday, 25 March.

Why it matters

Fielding questions in the National Assembly on widespread reports and rumours of fuel shortages, Mantashe said the Strait of Hormuz was allowing cargo ships to come to South Africa without interruption.

Common ground

“So that means we have a chance of a stable supply over the long term.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-03-25-gwede-mantashe-warns-against-…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 19 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

schedule Pending 9
help Insufficient Evidence 7
verified Verified By Reference 2
cancel Disputed 1
help
Claim 1: “South Africa’s biggest suppliers were Nigeria, Ghana and Angola”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in web search, cross-references, or Wikipedia to confirm or refute supplier relationships.
help
Claim 2: “Fuel supplies had been secured until the end of April”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in web search, cross-references, or Wikipedia to confirm or refute fuel supply status until April.
verified
Claim 3: “We import crude, we will continue rebuilding Sapref and PetroSA to increase our refining capacity”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia entries about National Key Points and oil refineries do not mention Sapref/PetroSA rebuilding plans. No direct evidence supports the claim.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list of oil refineries. The Oil & Gas Journal publishes a worldwide list of refineries annually in a country-by-country tabulation that includes for each refinery: location, crude oil daily…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oil_refineries
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The following is a list of all sites that have been declared as being of "national strategic importance against sabotage", or National Key Points, by the South African Minister of Police in terms of t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_National_Key_Points
help
Claim 4: “People are holding diesel in anticipation of increased prices, which is illegal”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in web search, cross-references, or Wikipedia to confirm or refute stockpiling legality.
help
Claim 5: “South Africa currently had eight million barrels of oil in its strategic reserves”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in web search, cross-references, or Wikipedia to confirm or refute strategic reserve quantities.
schedule
Claim 6: “There have been reports of fuel stations in Caledon experiencing shortages”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 7: “Fuel price increases will result in higher costs for transporting goods”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
cancel
Claim 8: “The Strait of Hormuz was allowing cargo ships to come to South Africa without interruption”
DISPUTED
The 2026 Strait of Hormuz crisis and its economic impact (Wikipedia) directly contradict the claim of uninterrupted access. The Strait was closed due to geopolitical conflict, blocking cargo ship passage.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Strait of Hormuz, a major maritime choke point for global energy trade, has experienced ongoing geopolitical and economic disruption since 28 February 2026, following joint military strikes by the…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Strait_of_Hormuz_crisis
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2026 Iran war, including the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, has led to what the International Energy Agency has characterized as the "largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil m…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_impact_of_the_2026_Ir…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The list of shipwrecks in 2026 includes ships sunk, foundered, grounded, or otherwise lost during 2026.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shipwrecks_in_2026
help
Claim 9: “Some farmers are only receiving ~20% of their usual monthly diesel allocations”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in web search, cross-references, or Wikipedia to confirm or refute farmer allocation figures.
schedule
Claim 10: “Urgent measures are needed to prevent price gouging and panic-buying”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 11: “25% of respondents in a survey do not have immediate access to fuel”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 12: “32% of businesses are aware of specific fuel and service stations experiencing shortages”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 13: “People are buying fuel in large quantities, including 16,000 litres at a service station”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
help
Claim 14: “Fuel stations running dry on diesel is a function of logistics supply system”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in web search, cross-references, or Wikipedia to confirm or refute logistics as the cause of shortages.
help
Claim 15: “There was a 60/40 split, with 60% of refined products imported and 40% processed in SA refineries”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in web search, cross-references, or Wikipedia to confirm or refute the 60/40 import/refining split.
schedule
Claim 16: “People are trying to buy fuel before prices are adjusted, which is happening all the time”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 17: “South Africa has reduced the number of its fuel refineries”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
verified
Claim 18: “Our crude oil is sourced from Africa, not in the Middle East”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia entries about East Africa, EMEA, and Middle East/North Africa regions are general geographic descriptions and do not specify South Africa's crude oil sourcing. No direct evidence confirms or denies the claim about oil origins.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape.…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Africa
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) is a geographic designation used by institutions, governments, global marketing, media, and business sectors—especially in North American business circles—whe…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe,_the_Middle_East_and_Af…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Middle East and North Africa (MENA), also referred to as West Asia and North Africa (WANA) or South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA), is a geographic region which comprises the Middle East (also…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East_and_North_Africa
schedule
Claim 19: “There is no cause for concern. There is more than enough fuel in reserve”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.