Fuel queues resurface in Zimbabwe cities

By Moshoeshoe Monare
25/03/04
AFTER a respite of three months, fuel queues have returned to Zimbabwe.

According to the country's new private petroleum supply companies, problems in the provi- sion of fuel might take three weeks to resolve.

For two days, there was no petrol in most of Harare, with long queues seen at the main filling stations. Yesterday, there was only one garage with a full pump in the CBD while in Greendale, 10km east of the capital, most stations had "no-petrol" cardboard signs. Other garages were deserted.
The association of fuel suppliers said some of its members had failed to acquire foreign currency to buy fuel.

Masimba Kambarami, spokesman for the Petroleum Marketers of Zimbabwe, said the fuel importing companies were turned down at the reserve bank's foreign currency auction floor, leaving them without cash to buy fuel.

Sellers decline to sell foreign exchange when the rates, set by the reserve bank, are too low.

The fuel business was privatised late last year to allow individuals to buy fuel.

The government believed that the move would ease the shortages and shift the burden of imports from the inefficient and corruption-ridden state petroleum parastatal Noczim.

"The majority of the bids by fuel suppliers to get foreign currency from the auction were turned down and those that are selling fuel are those who managed to get foreign currency.

"Filling stations are charging different pump prices and obviously motorists buy from these stations, creating shortages," he said.

Kambarami said as long as the foreign exchange problem persisted, there would be fuel shortages.
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