By Zivanai Dhewa

Government has apologised to the public for diesel shortages on its Twitter handle yesterday and promised to rectify the situation soon.

“Government apologises for the logistical glitch which resulted in fuel retailers ordering more petrol than diesel, giving rise to diesel shortages.

“The situation has been attended to and normalcy in the fuel retail sector is expected to have been attained within the next few hours,” read the statement posted on the twitter handle of the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services.

Appreciating efforts by government to keep the citizens informed, Cephas Mutumbuki said, “I am happy that there is a new culture of apologising, it’s a first step towards accountability.”

In one of his tweets, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube had commented that, “Income from the 2% tax has also been used to fill up shops and now fuel lines have been petered.”

Rebuffing the assertion by one Clive that fuel was now beyond the reach of many, Bekithemba Khanye said, “But fuel isn’t really expensive; we are just paying the full value for it.”

It shall be noted that before the fuel price increases effected by the Head of State President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Zimbabwean fuel was the cheapest in the region, prompting neighbouring citizens to come into Zimbabwe just to buy fuel.  This created an artificial shortage that saw the ordinary man queuing for long hours without fuel. 

The artificial shortages of fuel due to excessive buying by neighbouring citizens contributed to Zimbabwean citizens’ hording the product for speculative reasons and trading on the black market.  This situation was unsustainable as it led to the product being scarce on the formal market and flooded in the black market, leading to the suffering of the ordinary man. 

The President took a very unpopular yet necessary step to hike the fuel prices so that it can be at par with other regional fuel prices.  This has gone a long way in stabilising the fuel situation as people can drive into a fuel station and fill up their tanks without hassle.  The same measure also eradicated the black market that was mushrooming. 

Posting on Twitter, another netizen by the name Taurai Zizhou said, “I like the idea of not responding when decisions are tough and not popular, that doesn’t imply you are not listening, it simply means the audience isn’t listening.  I know where you are coming from and going.  The future is bright.”