Gwede Mantashe says South Africa's fuel supply is secure despite panic buying and scattered diesel shortages, but reports from farmers, businesses and some filling stations suggest logistics snags, rationing and alleged stock withholding are squeezing operations and stoking inflation fears

"Let me explain this in simple terms. 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.

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. "So that means we have a chance of a stable supply over the long term. There should be no panic in society," he said, adding that fuel supplies had been secured until the end of April.

Mantashe said South Africa currently had eight million barrels of oil in its strategic reserves, to be used "only when there is a real crisis".

"We import crude, we will continue rebuilding Sapref [SA's largest crude oil refinery] and PetroSA [SA's national oil and gas company] to increase our refining capacity, but for this current crisis, we depend on what is in place. We have a reliable supply of energy, and people should relax and not be panicking," he told Parliament.

On the question of energy supply, he said there was a...