Category: zimbabwe

Source: Honeymoon over for fuel cheats | Sunday Mail (Top Stories)

Brian Chitemba
Investigations Editor

GOVERNMENT has activated high-level systems to deal with corrupt fuel retailers engineering artificial shortages, with strict surveillance and penalties crafted to clean up the  sector.

Chair of the Special Anti-Corruption Unit in the Office of the President and Cabinet (Sacu), Mr Tabani Mpofu, told The Sunday Mail that a full-swing investigation was underway as Government was demanding reconciliations of petrol and diesel collected from the National Oil Infrastructure Company (NOIC) versus consumer purchases.

The Sunday Mail recently exposed fuel cheats who have caused shortages for several months.

Authorities realise the need for a lasting solution to the fuel shortages to ease the burden on industry and the general populace.

Thus, a high-stakes inter-agency meeting was held on Friday afternoon in Harare. It was attended by a team from the Office of the President and Cabinet, Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra), Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), Ministry of Energy and Power Development, Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera) and  Sacu.

Another such meeting was held a fortnight ago as the fight against fuel saboteurs intensifies.

Mr Mpofu warned that those fished out by the current investigation will face criminal charges in court.

“We want the dealers to submit fuel usage figures. We are looking at charging those who are found wanting,” he said.

NOIC chair Engineer McKenzie Ncube, who attended the high-level meeting on Friday, said the quickest way of arresting the malpractice was to introduce stiff penalties against those caught on the wrong side of the law. The penalties, he said, were discussed at the inter-agency meeting and would be announced soon.

Government is also set to introduce electronic fuel monitoring devices that will be rolled out by Zera at service stations and on fuel delivery trucks.

Energy and Power Development Minister Fortune Chasi yesterday said the fuel regulator was working on the project which is bankrolled by Government to the tune of US$300 000.

He referred further questions about the rollout of the monitoring device to Zera acting chief executive officer Engineer Eddington Mazambani, whose mobile phone went unanswered several times.

The system, which is being incubated by the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT), is expected to eliminate hoarding of fuel by retailers.

When fully functional, all haulage trucks transporting fuel will be fitted with trackers and volume-measurement technology to enable geo-fencing and monitoring of the vehicles’ movements.

According to fuel disbursement figures obtained from NOIC, retailers are accessing petrol and diesel which at times is higher than the daily consumption of five million litres per day.

This has thus prompted an extensive probe into the shady dealings in the lucrative fuel sector.

There has been concern over the distribution of fuel in the past month as drawdowns remain significantly higher yet supplies on the market are erratic.

A snap survey by this publication at most service stations last week showed that long fuel queues are still a constant feature.

Eng Ncube said Government was concerned about the artificial shortage of the precious liquid given the high drawdowns.

Latest figures from NOIC show that in the past week, dealers accessed 35,7 million litres and in some instances such as on March 7 2020, retailers got 6,2 million litres of petrol and diesel — which is 1,2 million higher than the daily demand of five million litres.

Fuel has been constantly flowing from NOIC to dealers with figures showing that on March 3 2020, retailers received 4,1 million litres while the following day they got four million litres and another 4,5 million litres of petrol and diesel on March 5 2020.

On March 6, NOIC released 4,8 million litres and a further 6,2 million litres on March 7 2020. More fuel was disbursed from March 8 to 11 with an average of four million litres per day.

“The fuel situation is slowly improving although indications are that the problem we have lies at the dealership end. Loadings from NOIC to dealers tell us that there shouldn’t be any long queues. This shows that fuel is being diverted to the black market, thereby shortchanging customers in the process,” said Eng Ncube.

“To solve this problem we have resolved to come up with stiff penalties to deal with those who are diverting fuel and sabotaging the economy. That’s corruption and it must be dealt with decisively.”

Consumer Council of Zimbabwe executive director Ms Rosemary Siyachitema could not comment yesterday saying she was busy.

“I am sorry I cannot comment now,” she said, curtly.

The continued fuel shortages are puzzling given that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has earmarked US$120 million this month to import around 200 million litres of fuel for the general local currency market, with US$18,5 million letters of credit confirmed for immediate drawdowns.

The figures are about 20 percent higher than the normally required US$100 million a month to solve the shortages.

 

 

The post Honeymoon over for fuel cheats appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

Source: Speculators risk losing mines | The Herald

The post Speculators risk losing mines appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

Cyclones, tsunamis, floods, droughts, fires and plagues! They have always been there but now, with worldwide communications, we know immediately what is happening where.

Source: A silver lining – The Zimbabwean

Mostly we can say, ‘it affects them’ and we contribute our resources and our prayers. But with this latest plague – the corona virus – it affects us, whereever we are. It cannot be contained locally despite the best efforts of the most advanced nations in Asia, Europe and North America.   In fact these are the continents most affected. They are the places most travelled to and from.

Globalisation has brought many benefits but we are realising that it has also brought many costs. America gets much attention in the media and it is noticeable that this virus has really knocked them off course.  Their president has his eyes on his ‘approval ratings’ but he also has his eyes on the stock markets. This virus is making them plunge.  This is awkward for him and distracting from his re-election bid. It is exposing the vulnerability of a country that preens itself on being ‘great’. They cannot even provide health care for their citizens or sick pay.

So Corona – the word means ‘crown’ – is a shock to the system of the most powerful nation.  In the long run it might help them become a more caring society.  Politicians, nearly everywhere, are urging people to ‘think of others’. Don’t visit your old folk in homes.  You may carry the virus unknowingly. Wash your hands lest, in greeting others or doing anything for others, you may transmit the virus. Don’t, as we do, put your hand to your mouth or nose when you sneeze or cough.  Your hand may become a carrier. And we are told many such ‘dos’ and ‘donts’ so as to show our care for others.

I do not think I have heard politicians speak so emphatically about ‘caring for others’ before this plague, or pandemic, hit us.  This is something we would like to see become contagious! Every culture must have its equivalent to the English proverb, ‘every cloud has a silver lining’. It conveys the fact that women and men in every age have proved their worth by struggling against obstacles in their path.

The Corona virus is, to my thinking, the first truly global challenge in history – even more intrusive to our lives than climate change.  Suddenly the daily bulletins coming out of an office in Geneva, Switzerland, which most of us have never heard of, is top of the news every day. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of Ethiopia, Secretary General of the World Health Organisation, is the most listened to person on the planet. This has to be a ‘silver lining’.

15 March 2020                    Lent Sunday 3 A

Exodus 17:3-7                     Romans 5:1…8                   John 4:5-42

The post A silver lining  appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

Source: Ex-senior police officers seek reinstatement | Herald (Africa)

Yeukai Karengezeka Court Correspondent

TWO ex-senior police officers — Assistant Commissioner Fortunate Chirara and Inspector John Madhuku — have approached the High Court seeking an order to invalidate their resignations.

The two are fighting for reinstatement without loss of salary and benefits on the basis that they were acquitted of duping the Zimbabwe Republic Police’s Kuyedza Women’s Club of $4 000 in 2017.

Chirara and Madhuku want the defendants to pay costs of suit on a client-attorney scale.

Initially, the two were convicted by Harare magistrate Mrs Josephine Sande, but were acquitted after appealing against their conviction and sentence at the High Court.

Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga, the Police Service Commission and Senior Assistant Commissioner Godfrey Munyonga are cited as respondents.

The two former police officers, through their lawyers Mugiya and Muvhami Law Chambers, argue that they were misled to resign by Munyonga.

“The third defendant (Munyonga) unlawfully forced the plaintiffs to resign against their will and he threatened them with arrests and discharge from the police service over allegations that the plaintiffs had swindled funds for the Kuyedza Women’s Club,” the lawyers argued.

“Out of fear and excessive intimidations, the plaintiffs tendered their resignations to the third defendant who personally supervised the process and directed the plaintiffs on how to resign.”

The ex-officers were sentenced to 24 months’ imprisonment each for theft, but 15 months were suspended on condition of good behaviour and that they restitute $2 300 each.

The Women’s Club comprises of wives of police officers residing in camps throughout the country to empower them to run self-sustaining projects.

The post Ex-senior police officers seek reinstatement appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

IN what could present the MDC with a fresh headache, another opposition party, bearing the name MDC Original, has been registered by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec). According to a letter that was written by Zec chief elections officer Utoile Silaigwana, MDC Original is headquartered in Mutare and is now recognised as an official opposition […]