By Rudo Saungweme
ZANU PF Youth League has vowed to expose some corrupt service station dealers diverting fuel to the black market.
This follows the chaos prevailing at fuel stations each time a delivery is made. Motorists complain that the precious liquid the corruption at fuel stations has resulted in fuel being more available on black market than at the pumps, at a high price though.
On its twitter handle ZANU PF Youth League posted, “Bulawayo Province ZANU PF Youth League has embarked on a mission to expose some service station dealers diverting fuel to the black market. Challenging the Government of Zimbabwe to bring sanity to this sector.”
Citizens have castigated these unscrupulous service stations indicating that the fuel attendants should be occasionally rotated to bust the syndicate with black market fuel dealers.
One motorist who refused to be disclosed said, “I am so disgruntled with Petro Trade Kamfinsa in particular. The service station is full of corrupt fuel attendants. They sell most of their fuel to black market ignoring motorists who would have spent hours in queue waiting to be served.
“Imagine fuel running dry after being in a queue for more than five hours when you are just ten metres away. This is because they will be serving their own fuel dealers who sell fuel on black market. In this regard, I feel that the fuel attendees must be rotated countrywide in a move to curtail this corrupt activity,” he said.
Energy Minister, Dr Joram Gumbo also bemoaned the behaviour of fuel attendants who are engaging in this corrupt activity. He made an unannounced visit to several service stations in Harare where he saw cars he suspected had no engines being pushed after receiving full tank fuel. Minister Gumbo concluded that the non-runners were used to divert fuel to black market.
Citizens have indicated that the security sector should deal with these unscrupulous fuel dealers and fuel attendants who will be found on the wrong side.
The black market has led to the instability of transport fares. Many of the transport operators are taking advantage of the situation thereby charging ridiculous fares.
