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Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief

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.