The Sunday News
Brian Chitemba, Investigations Editor
FUEL retailers could be hoarding fuel for speculative purposes or diverting the commodity to either the black market or service stations that sell in foreign currency after revelations they drew down in excess of 31 million litres from the National Oil Infrastructure Company of Zimbabwe (NOIC) in the seven days to 27 February, it has been learnt.
On average, the companies accessed 4,4 million litres per day between 20 February and 27 February 27, against a daily demand of 5 million litres for both petrol and diesel. NOIC said yesterday it was “surprised” by the obtaining acute fuel shortages, particularly at a time when it had ramped up supplies.
A series of emergency inter-agency meetings involving the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra), Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera), Special Anti-Corruption Unit in the Office of the President and Cabinet (Sacu) and NOIC were held yesterday to try to get to the bottom of the shortages.
Sacu head Mr Tabani Mpofu has since written to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) indicating that from the available evidence, it was “reasonable” to infer that “the shortage has been caused by acts of corruption perpetrated by fuel suppliers seeking to profiteer”.
“The fuel situation in the market remains dire; there being no evidence of any impact in the market of the significant quantities of fuel that have been disbursed to retailers according to NOIC figures. Most service stations throughout the country are not retailing fuel, with a few that are doing so experiencing long, winding queues of motorists seeking the commodity,” read part of the letter gleaned by our Harare Bureau.
“In the absence of a solid explanation based on evidence, the only reasonable inference to be drawn from the status quo in the fuel market is that the shortage has been caused by acts of corruption perpetrated by fuel suppliers to profiteer.”
There is a real possibility that actors in the fuel supply chain, he added, are colluding to create artificial shortages that are detrimental to the economy and the country’s stability. The letter was copied to the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Dr Misheck Sibanda; Secretary for Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Mrs Virginia Mabhiza; National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Prosecutor-General Mr Kumbirai Hodzi; and ZRP Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga.
Motorists are spending hours in fuel queues for a chance to access fuel. NOIC chair Engineer Mckenzie Ncube told our Harare Bureau that Government wanted to establish the real cause of the problem.
“We are trying to put a finger as to where the problem is; we want the real cause of the fuel shortages, whether it is sabotage or someone is trying to play games,” he said.
Statistics obtained from NOIC show that on 20 February, fuel retailers collected 1,7 million litres of petrol and 2,6 million litres of diesel, while on 21 February 2020, 5,2 million litres of both petrol and diesel was released to the market. On 27 February, fuel retailers also drew down 4,9 million litres.
Cumulatively, the figures adds up to 31,4 million litres in the seven-day period. Comparatively, for the seven days between 10 February 2020 and 16 February , retailers accessed 22,5 million litres of fuel, which is 8,9 million litres less than the quantity accessed last week.
