from UN Integrated Regional Information Networks (30 June 2003)     MORE NEWS   HOME
Focus On Effects of Fuel Shortages On Daily Lives

ANALYSIS
June 30, 2003

More than six months since a fuel supply deal collapsed, Libya has once again come to the rescue of President Robert Mugabe by reviving a barter agreement on oil with Zimbabwe.

"Experts from the two governments, including Zimbabwe Energy and Power Development Minister (Amos Midzi), met to review the bilateral co-operation path, and the ways to reinforce that cooperation in oil and investment in various economic fields," a joint statement said without giving further details.

Libya last year renewed a US $360 million fuel deal with Zimbabwe in exchange for beef, tobacco and sugar but the supply line was cut after Zimbabwe failed to meet its end of the bargain.

While the stopgap measure may temporarily alleviate fuel shortages, long-term fuel security is by no means guaranteed.

Hardest hit by the fuel shortages are labourers, especially poor households in Zimbabwe's high-density suburbs.

Chipo Chikosha is a single mother. Every day she gets up at 3:30 am and by 4 am is on the road, walking a distance of 20 km from the suburb of Glen Norah in the capital, Harare, to the city centre where she works as an office orderly at a law firm.

"I cannot afford the fare of Zim $300 (US 37 cents) charged by the commuter omnibuses," she told IRIN.

With a salary of Zim $50,000 (US $62) per month, Chipo pays her rent and buys food. Despite a government regulation stipulating that passenger omnibuses may only charge fares of between Zim $60 (US 7 cents) and Zim $300 (US 37 cents) for urban routes, commuters in Harare and Bulawayo have to contend with fares ranging from Zim $300 (US 37 cents) to Zim $1,000 (US $1.20).

The prohibitive fares have meant that highways from residential suburbs into downtown Harare stream with bicycles and pedestrians walking to work every morning and home again in the evenings.

Two years ago the government reduced the import duty and sales tax on bicycles to encourage more people to cycle to work, as passenger vehicles were grounded owing to the chronic shortage of fuel.

It now common to see trucks and tractors with trailers transporting people to and from town.

The government has tried to ease the problem by introducing urban train services. The train service, dubbed "Freedom Trains", charges government-gazetted fares and was expected to cushion commuters from unscrupulous bus owners who overcharge. However, passengers have raised concerns over safety and complained of overcrowding.

An economist with the Zimbabwe Economic Society told IRIN the trains were being run at a loss by the state-owned National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ).

"The scheme will put the NRZ into more debt," the economist said.

Zimbabwe needs around US $400 million to meet its fuel needs annually. Much of this money used to come from agriculture, especially tobacco, which until 2000 was the country's main foreign currency earner.

Prior to 2000, tobacco raised over US $500 million in foreign currency annually. Midway into the 2003 selling season, tobacco has brought in just slightly above US $30 million.

Newly resettled farmers are yet to raise their production to pre-2000 levels. Production on the "new farms" has also been stalled by shortages of fuel and inputs.

The Zimbabwe Farmers Union, a body of mostly peasant and small-scale farmers, recently made an appeal to the government to have fuel supplied to the new farmers.

But while the majority of people have to do without transport, those who control the hugely profitable parallel market in scarce goods and hard currency are enjoying boom times.

A garage owner identified only as Chirasha told IRIN they sell hardly a quarter of their allocations through the pump at the official price of Zim $450 (US 5 cents).

"We have customers who are prepared to buy in bulk at Zim $1,500 (US $1.80) per litre," he said.

Chirasha added that after filling only a few cars, petrol attendants tell the remaining customers the pumps are dry. The rest of the fuel is then piped out at night to be stored and sold at unknown destinations.

Some fuel dealers are selling fuel in foreign currency at US 75 cents a litre. Newspapers are awash with adverts saying "bulk fuel available".

A new scam involves towing clapped-out cars to fuel stations where they are parked until fuel is available. Once the car has been filled, it is immediately towed to a secluded spot and drained. The fuel, bought at Zim $450 (US 50 cents) a litre, is then resold at $1,500 (US $1.80) to desperate motorists. The police have begun monitoring the situation and a few arrests have been made.

Earlier this month the government introduced fuel coupons for commuter taxis and omnibus operators. The move followed an announcement that the state is to ban all vehicles from carrying petrol and diesel in containers, to prevent parallel marketeering.

Energy Minister Amos Midzi said most commuter omnibuses were no longer plying their routes. Instead, they were buying fuel at filling stations reserved for them by government order and then re-selling it at profits of up to 500 percent.

In June motorists were banned from carrying fuel in containers, in a move to stamp out illegal sales.

"If, for example, someone has a funeral, or is a farmer who needs diesel, he has to apply to the ministry to be given permission to carry the fuel to his farm, otherwise he will be arrested," said deputy energy minister Reuben Marumahoko.

After several cases where conmen posing as undertakers had presented fake burial documents to buy fuel, petrol attendants on occasion have demanded to see the body in the hearse first, before pumping.

  MORE NEWS   HOME