THE Government has warned that it will cancel licences for
service stations allegedly diverting fuel to the black market where it is sold
in foreign currency and in the process creating an artificial shortage of the
commodity.
In an interview, National Oil Infrastructure Company of
Zimbabwe (NOIC) board chairman Engineer Daniel Mackenzie-Ncube said there was a lot of indiscipline at
service stations.
He said for example, some service stations in Zvishavane
have been fingered along with several others across the country that are
leading in allegedly channelling petrol and diesel to the black market.
“We have noted with concern a lot of indiscipline at
service stations across the country. This corruption at service stations is
causing artificial shortages of fuel. We have identified several stations in
Zvishavane and these are under the spotlight and the Government will not
hesitate to cancel their licences,” Eng Ncube said.
He said it was unfortunate that a few motorists are
managing to buy the commodity from the service stations with the rest being
channelled to the black market.
“There is corruption at the dealership level which we have
noticed. We have seen that fuel attendants are given for example 300 litres
each and at night they come and empty all the tanks and sell it on the black
market for United States dollars. Sometimes the transactions are done in the
middle of the night or at the homes of the fuel attendants and the motorists
are forced to buy the commodity from the black market and at exorbitant
prices,” Eng Ncube said.
Last week, Eng Ncube said NOIC is working with the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to secure lines of credit to enable it to import more
fuel to meet market demands.
Energy and Power Development Minister Advocate Fortune
Chasi last week said the Government is looking for ways to address the channelling
of fuel to the black market which has resulted in unending queues at service
stations.
In the Midlands province, motorists complain that a few of
them are sold petrol or diesel before they are told by fuel attendants that the
commodity is finished. Chronicle
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