The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) will
investigate reports of fuel hoarding by oil companies that allegedly received,
in the past week, 20 million litres of diesel and almost 9 million litres of
petrol, but reportedly withheld much of the fuel in the hope of forcing
authorities to increase their permitted mark-ups.
Sources said the oil firms withheld fuel received between
February 24 and March 1 because they wanted higher mark-ups in the formulas
used by the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) to set the retail
prices.
Speculation that the companies hoped for licences for forex
service stations is less likely since such stations have to procure fuel
outside the general allocation system using their own free funds with steps
being taken to ensure ordinary allocations were not sold in forex service
stations.
The withholding of supplies worsened shortages. Documents
seen last night showed that for diesel, Redan got almost 2,4 million litres,
Billheights (Trek) 857 503 litres, Engen 1,8 million litres, Zuva 272 498
litres, Total 2,2 million litres, Petrotrade 1,1 million litres, and Pickglow (Glow)
886 646 litres.
For petrol, Redan got 1,6 million litres, Trek 34 526
litres; Engen 29 038 litres, Zuva 531 288 litres, Total 2,5 million litres,
Petrotrade 546 291 litres and Glow 605 001 litres.
Much of this fuel was reportedly not sold. The National Oil Infrastructure Company (NOIC), which
distributes fuel in the general system to oil companies, confirmed allocating
fuel to the oil companies.
NOIC board chairman Engineer Daniel Mackenzie Ncube said:
“Yes,
they were getting fuel. I can confirm that they were
withholding fuel and they were claiming that the price from Zera (the Zimbabwe
Energy Regulatory Authority) was sub-economic for them.
“They were just giving a number of reasons. But going
forward, we will be putting in place a tracking system that shows us where a
truck leaving NOIC delivers the fuel.”
Asked what evidence they had to demonstrate that oil
companies withheld the fuel, Eng Mackenzie Ncube said the endless queues and
complaints from consumers were enough evidence.
Zacc chairperson Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo confirmed
receiving reports of hoarding by oil companies and said: “Zacc is launching
investigations into the matter.”
Asked when the investigations will start, Justice
Matanda-Moyo said no date had been allocated since she got the case last night.
Head of the Special Anti-Corruption Unit Mr Thabani Mpofu
said they also got information pertaining to the possible hoarding in the fuel
sector.
“The allegations of fuel hoarding and the illicit trading
of fuel have been brought to our attention,” he said. “We have referred these
to the State institutions that are charged with corruption investigations. You
may want to get a comment from those.”
It is understood that yesterday there was a meeting between
the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Zera and the oil marketers to try and find a
solution to the challenges.
Last night, Zera announced that fuel prices are going up
from today, with diesel retailing at a maximum of $18,66 and petrol $18,70.
Zera’s maximum retail prices are based on the actual landed
price of the fuel in US dollars, the interbank exchange rate at the time of the
import, and the handling charges, taxes and mark-ups based on the landed
Zimbabwe dollar price. Herald
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