Zimbabwe’s fuel price deception: Using Middle East wars to hide domestic tax greed

Tendai Ruben Mbofana

The latest announcement by the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority regarding petroleum prices for March 2026 is a bitter pill for a nation already gasping for economic air.

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As of March 4, diesel is pegged at 1.77 US dollars per litre and petrol blend at 1.71 US dollars per litre.

While the government frames these figures through the lens of compassionate intervention—claiming that without their cushioning the prices would have soared to 1.90 and 1.81 US dollars respectively—the reality on the ground tells a much darker story of systemic failure and misplaced priorities.

To the ordinary Zimbabwean navigating the wreckage of an economy characterized by crumbling infrastructure and skyrocketing costs of living, these price hikes are not merely adjustments; they are a direct assault on the right to survive.

​There is no denying that the global energy landscape is currently in the throes of a violent upheaval.

The escalating conflict in the Middle East, particularly the recent strikes involving Israel, the United States, and Iran, has sent shockwaves through the oil markets.

With the Strait of Hormuz—a bottleneck through which 20 percent of the world’s oil supply flows—facing threats of closure, crude oil prices are flirting with the 100-dollar-per-barrel mark.

This is a global crisis, yes; however, using international turmoil as a convenient shield to deflect from internal inefficiencies is a tired tactic that no longer holds water.

Even before the first missiles were launched in the Gulf, Zimbabweans were already paying some of the highest fuel prices in the world.

The Middle East conflict has merely added a “war premium” to an already bloated base price that the state refuses to trim.

A simple glance at our regional peers exposes the absurdity of our current pricing structure.

While Zimbabweans pay 1.77 US dollars for a litre of diesel, our neighbors in Botswana are paying significantly less, with prices often hovering around 1.21 US dollars because taxation on petroleum products is significantly lighter than in Zimbabwe.

South Africa, despite facing the same global crude price increases, has recently managed to lower fuel costs due to a stronger Rand and better strategic reserves.

Even landlocked Zambia frequently manages to maintain lower prices at the pump than Zimbabwe.

This raises a fundamental question that the state continues to dodge.

If the entire region is importing fuel through the same channels and facing the same global market volatility, why is the Zimbabwean consumer consistently burdened with the highest costs?

The answer lies not in the volatility of the Strait of Hormuz, but in the labyrinthine tax regime of the Zimbabwean state.

Our fuel is not just a commodity; it is a cash cow for a government that has mastered the art of extraction without service delivery.

Nearly one-third of the cost for every litre of fuel pumped in Zimbabwe is swallowed by a relentless cocktail of state impositions—including excise duty, the carbon tax, the ZINARA levy, and the debt redemption levy—as well as the significantly hiked strategic reserve fees and the artificially inflated expense of mandatory ethanol blending sourced from a protected domestic monopoly.

While the government boasts of “cushioning” citizens by reducing a few cents here and there, it remains silent on the fact that the state remains the primary beneficiary of these high prices.

We are a nation so heavily taxed that our very mobility has become a luxury, yet the revenue from these taxes remains largely invisible in the public sphere.

The irony is as sharp as the jagged, unrepaired potholes that litter our suburban streets and major trade routes alike, serving as a daily reminder of the state’s failure to reinvest fuel taxes into the very roads they are supposed to maintain.

We are told that these taxes are necessary for national development, yet our roads are widely considered death traps.

Over 70 percent of the national road network is in a state of terminal decay, with bridges failing and arterial routes becoming impassable after even a moderate rain.

The same citizens being asked to pay 1.77 US dollars for diesel are the ones whose vehicles are being destroyed by the very roads they are supposedly funding.

This disconnect extends to our healthcare system, where hospitals remain under-resourced shells, lacking even the most basic radiotherapy machines for cancer patients or consistent supplies of essential drugs.

If the state is collecting such vast amounts from every litre of fuel sold, where is that money going?

It certainly isn’t going into the potholes, the clinics, or the power grid.

Furthermore, the argument that pricing fuel almost exclusively in US dollars should help lower costs has proven to be a fallacy.

In theory, using a stable, hard currency should eliminate the exchange rate risk that often drives up prices in local currency environments.

Yet, even with the transition to the ZWG and the heavy use of the greenback, the Zimbabwean consumer sees none of the benefits of that stability.

Instead, the US dollar pricing has simply served to “hard-code” these high costs, making them immune to the fluctuations that might otherwise provide relief when the local currency fluctuates.

The state has effectively dollarized its revenue stream while the majority of the citizenry still struggles to earn enough in any currency to cover the basic costs of transport and food.

In addition, Zimbabwe is also served by the Beira–Harare pipeline from Mozambique, a logistical advantage that should in theory reduce fuel transportation costs compared to countries that rely entirely on road tanker imports.

Yet, this is not the case on the ground.

The impact of these fuel prices on the ordinary Zimbabwean is nothing short of catastrophic.

Fuel is the lifeblood of the economy; when the price at the pump rises, the cost of everything else follows in a brutal domino effect.

Transport operators immediately pass the cost onto commuters, many of whom are already spending half their income just to get to work.

Farmers, who rely on diesel for tractors and irrigation, are forced to raise the price of produce.

Consequently, the cost of a basic loaf of bread or a bag of mealie-meal becomes a source of daily anxiety for millions living below the poverty datum line.

In a country where the majority are unemployed or underemployed in the informal sector, these price increases are a sentence to further deprivation.

The state’s current approach—providing a token “cushion” while maintaining a predatory tax structure—is a failure of social justice.

If the government were truly committed to protecting the citizenry, it would look at a permanent reduction or suspension of some of the more egregious levies that make our fuel so much more expensive than our neighbors.

Instead of asking a hungry population to “be patient” while infrastructure crumbles, the state should be practicing the transparency it so often preaches.

We need an honest accounting of how fuel revenues are spent and why, in a time of global crisis, the burden is always placed on the backs of the poor rather than the state’s own bloated administrative costs.

Ultimately, fuel is not a luxury; it is a fundamental requirement for economic growth and human dignity.

By allowing prices to remain at these astronomical levels, the state is effectively throttling the very economic transformation it claims to pursue.

As we look at the turmoil in the Middle East, we must also look closer to home at the turmoil within our own economic policies.

It is time to stop using global wars as an excuse for local negligence.

Zimbabweans deserve a government that prioritizes their survival over its own revenue collection, and that starts with an honest, fair, and compassionate approach to fuel pricing.

• Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. To directly receive his articles please join his WhatsApp Channel on: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaqprWCIyPtRnKpkHe08