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THE fuel supply situation in the country has stabilised much to the relief of motorists and the travelling public who have endured weeks of erratic supplies and shortages. In Bulawayo, supplies of diesel normalised last week while petrol was available at most service stations around the city at the weekend.

Queues have disappeared and the motoring public can access fuel at garages without any hassles. The normalisation of supplies come after local petroleum giant — Sakunda Holdings — and its partners provided Government with 100 million litres of fuel, which will only be paid for after 12 months. In addition, to ensure adequate fuel supplies over the next 18 months, Government and Sakunda are finalising a deal that will see the latter supplying the country with 1,6 billion litres of fuel.

Independent Petroleum Group (IPG), Glencore, Engen and Total have also chipped in and are working on various structures with the Government. From the Sakunda/Trafigura deal, Government will be getting 50 million litres of fuel per week and to cover the gap, there is the IPG deal which became operational last week and will see the country getting about 20 million litres of the fuel a month.

Engen and Total have also come up with their facilities to augment Government efforts. When Government began the draw down last week, the fuel supply situation normalised in Harare before trickling down to the provinces during the course of the week.

The Sakunda/Trafigura deal is significant in that it allows Government ample time to rebuild its export receivables over the next 18 months and cover the loans. When it starts repaying the loan, Government will be parting with $5 million a week, meaning the repayment period will stretch for 20 weeks.

On the 1,6 billion litres to be supplied over 18 months, Government will avail foreign currency to Trafigura for 50 percent of what the international company would have sold into the market with the balance payable after the consumption period. Meanwhile, Sakunda will be servicing its own customers as agreed to with Government, allowing other oil marketing companies to come in.

The stabilisation of the fuel supply situation comes as a relief to industry, mining, agriculture and other users who have been grappling with shortages.

Government should be commended for sealing the deal with Sakunda and averting a potential disaster that would have hampered efforts to grow the economy. President Mnangagwa has exhorted Zimbabweans to unite and remain strong in the face of prevailing economic difficulties saying the challenges confronting the country will soon be overcome, paving way for an epoch of prosperity.

Addressing thousands of Zion Christian Church congregants gathered at the church’s cathedral at Mbungo Estates during an occasion to celebrate Bishop Nehemiah Mutendi’s 79th birthday and also pray for good rains in the forthcoming farming season on Sunday, President Mnangagwa said challenges facing Zimbabwe required resilience.

“Things might have been difficult or might still be difficult but I liked what Bishop Mutendi said while talking about what pregnant women go through in child birth. He said pregnant women (during labour) are encouraged to persevere under pain during that time and after a child is finally delivered mothers become very happy and will be smiling all the way,’’ he said.

“It is the same situation to a country, we are currently in problems but let us unite and persevere saying ‘push’, ‘push’; we must continue moving forward as a nation fully aware that the current challenges are temporary and good times will soon roll,’’ he said.

Zimbabwe is facing a plethora of problems ranging from price hikes, shortages of basic commodities, foreign currency/cash shortages and low productivity in industry. This has resulted in the disappearance of some commodities from supermarket shelves and the proliferation of a black market where these goods are sold at exorbitant prices.

Government has committed to addressing these market distortions with the same vigour and determination it tackled the fuel crisis. We urge Zimbabweans to be patient and not panic as the situation will soon normalise. They should assist authorities by reporting any acts of sabotage and malfeasance by retailers, manufacturers or wholesalers bent on profiteering from the suffering of the masses. As it is, there are some products that are produced locally without any need to import raw materials but retailers are pricing them beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Manufacturers of cooking oil post daily updates where they alert the market of the ability to adequately supply the commodity but for one reason or another, unscrupulous retailers are withholding the product from the market for speculative purposes.

Yesterday, United Refineries chief executive officer Mr Busisa Moyo threatened to name, shame and blacklist retailers from Bulawayo who are holding onto stocks of cooking oil.

In a tweet, Mr Moyo said: “URL Cooking Oil Update — We sold & delivered over 300mt (150,000 units) last week into the Bulawayo & surrounding markets. We are concerned that product is being withheld or bundled at till point. We will be blacklisting errant retailers for the next round of deliveries”.

This kind of behaviour is not only retrogressive but amounts to economic sabotage. It is not only self-defeating but severely impairs efforts to normalise the situation on the market. Zimbabweans should realise that selfish acts of greed have far reaching implications on the wider economy. The fuel situation has normalised, let’s tame the supply of basic goods.