Fuel firms responded to the government's unilateral slashing of petrol and diesel prices by turning off the pumps, resulting in long and winding queues yesterday re-emerging at the few garages that were selling fuel in Harare and surrounding towns. Zimbabwe has grappled fuel shortages since 1999 because of an acute shortage of hard cash to pay foreign suppliers. Fuel had however remained generally available since the end of last year as the government appeared to have liberated the fuel market allowing private companies with foreign currency to import the commodity and sell at viable prices. But Energy Minister Mike Nyambuya on Thursday re-imposed controls on fuel prices declaring that with immediate effect, no garage was permitted to sell petrol and diesel at more than Z$380 and $320 per litre respectively. Garages had been charging between $600 and $800 for a litre of diesel or petrol before Nyambuya's announcement.
Oil industry officials accused the government of acting without consulting fuel firms and warned that the country could revert to the 2003 situation when motorists would spend months without diesel or petrol. But Nyambuya insisted the government would not go back on the new prices of fuel and remained adamant that the country would not run out of the key commodity because the government and its cash-strapped National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM) had made ample arrangements to import fuel.
The fuel crisis is one of a litany of troubles afflicting Zimbabwe in its sixth year of economic recession. The country which has the world's highest inflation at 993.6 percent is also facing shortages of electricity, food, essential medicines, hard cash and just about every basic survival commodity.