Mystery surrounds the distribution of fuel in Zimbabwe
after authorities have established that while enough money has been availed for
players to procure the product, it has not been channelled to the market
resulting in incessant countrywide shortages.
It has also emerged that for the month of June, the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) released letters of credit for the acqusition of some
170 million litres against a national requirement of 140 million, raising
serious questions about the leakages in the industry.
This came out after Energy and Power Development Minister
Advocate Fortune Chasi and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, Dr John Mangudya
met fuel players in Harare yesterday and told them that new measures to curtail
leakages in the fuel supply system will be instituted.
Among the measures will be the renewal of licences half
yearly and cancellation of operating licences for those who flout procedure.
Minister Chasi later appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on Energy and
Power Development.
He said the measures were expected to instill discipline in
industry players and plug leakages amid indications that the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe has made provision to acquire 170 million litres of fuel for next
month against a requirement of 130 million litres.
“I was in a meeting with players from the fuel industry and
this is the second time that I am meeting them since I was appointed. The
meeting was occasioned by the queues that we are seeing at the service stations
throughout the country.
“The meeting was attended by the Reserve Bank Governor Dr
John Mangudya and his staff and I made it very clear that licences are issued
when the regulator is satisfied that it’s in the national interest. And so when
people begin to misbehave, as we understand from the public because I have been
inundated by many complaints from the public, we act,” he said.
Minister Chasi added, “Some say that when fuel is
delivered, only a few people are served then they are told that fuel is
finished when it’s evidently clear that the fuel was there. There has also been
instances where service stations refuse certain types of payments, insisting on
US dollars.
“This has occasioned untold suffering on the driving public
and as Government we are there to protect the national interests. We are there
to make sure that fuel is distributed rationally throughout the country.”
He said he made it very clear during the meeting that this
strong element of dishonesty will not be tolerated by Government.
“We have agreed with the industry that all service stations
will be wet today (yesterday). So we are expecting that there will be some
movements, significant movement around the issue of availability of fuel.
“I also mentioned that I have just completed work on
regulations around penalties for misbehaviour and those regulations will be
sent to the Attorney General for examination and finalisation. We expect them
to come into force pretty soon. We need order in this industry.
“I pointed that in order to enhance availability of
information to the public, I will be publicising, who received what amount of
fuel and when, so there is nowhere to hide.
“I also remind them that their licences will be due for
renewal in six months. So when that time comes we will look at the conduct and
behaviour of each player and it’s our right as Government not to renew licences
of entities run by devious people.”
Minister Chasi also indicated that they had set up task
forces to investigate misconduct by some service stations that are responsible
for diverting fuel to the parallel market.
“We learnt that depots are also part of the cause of the
problem, fuel is escaping through those depots and we are going to investigate
on that,” he told the Parly committee after he had been asked what he was doing
to end fuel queues.
Dr Mangudya told the same committee that investigations
were necessary since the country was procuring more than enough fuel every
month.
“As of now we have letters of credit worth 170 million
litres of fuel for the coming month against 130 million litres required by the
nation for the same period,” he said.
He assured the committee that the central bank will always
avail funds to procure adequate fuel every month.
On fuel pricing, Minister Chasi said the industry pointed
out that there was instability in terms of some of the templates that were
being used to determine fuel prices.
“I have asked them to go and develop that position, giving
us facts and figures. We are due to meet them the week after next, on Thursday
so that we can develop the issue they have raised.
“The governor was able to demonstrate to the industry that
people accessed money to bring in certain levels of fuel and that there is
fuel. This why we are saying the queues must begin to move without delay,” he
said.
Minister Chasi said the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory
Authority (ZERA) last week announced the fuel price and it had not changed.
Last week ZERA gazetted new maximum retail prices of fuel
reflecting average increases of 46 percent for blend petrol and 49 percent for
diesel.
ZERA said the new prices were premised on the interbank
market rate and will see a litre of blend petrol (E10) retailing at $4,97 while
diesel will sell at $4,89 per litre.
ZERA said the new prices were in line with measures taken
by the RBZ on fuel procurement, now based on the ruling exchange rate on
interbank market where oil marketers now obtain forex to import fuel.
The country has been facing intermittent fuel shortages as
a result of a shortage of foreign currency and activities of dealers who are
working in connivance with people in the fuel industry especially attendants
who have been accused of diverting fuel to the black market. Herald
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