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Courtney Matende, Midlands Reporter

THE Zimbabwe Miners’ Federation (ZMF) has applied for a licence to import fuel for its members countrywide.

In an interview yesterday, ZMF chairman Mr Makumba Nyenje confirmed the move, which he said was meant to help small scale miners to have easy access to fuel.

He said getting a licence would reduce pressure on the service stations where other businesses and motorists queue to get the precious commodity.

“We have applied for the licence because miners have been facing challenges due to fuel shortages in the country that have been causing long queues. We await Government’s response at the earliest possible time,” he said.

Mr Nyenje said they applied through the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera) to the Ministry of Energy and Power Development to get the licence for them as a federation.

The application follows the Government’s announcement on liberalisation of importation of fuel by big companies and organisations with free funds for their own consumption.

Mr Nyenje said they wanted to have fuel ready for the miners for improved efficiency in the mining sector.

“We would like to have fuel in mining towns whereby members will be using their e-cards to get fuel and we also want to introduce a coupon system so that miners can be able to redeem them at garages,” he said.

Last year, ZMF in partnership with MetBank, launched an electronic multi-purpose membership card for miners, which is linked to their mobile phones and this card enables a miner to have access to a multiplicity of services such as loans and mining equipment offered by the bank, confirm membership, buy goods, pay bills and transfers among other things.