Fuel challenges are now causing havoc in Harare City Council’s role of discharging duties.
The council is finding ways to address the fuel challenge through engagement with authorities according to a press statement from the city fathers.
“We are finding it difficult to procure fuel for service delivery because our suppliers are demanding to be paid in United States Dollars,” the council says.
“Council charges its services in the local currency while fuel is largely being sold in foreign currency.”
Zimbabwe’s fuel challenges have been accredited to foreign currency shortages in the country.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor, however in June this year told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Energy that there was enough fuel in the country and raised suspicion that criminal activities were resulting in fuel shortages in the country.
“There are many grey areas, indiscipline, inefficiency and arbitrage so it is not about demand and supply, but it is about enforcement because if we had 143 million litres in March then we need to find out where this fuel is going to,” he said.
“Even if we put 200 million litres of fuel into the economy, there will still be leakages and so we need to plug them.”
With the Zimbabwean dollar continuously losing value, fuel prices in local currency have been increasing in prices and currently, diesel costs ZWL$62.77 and ZWL$71.62 for blend petroleum.
Harare City Council says “The critically affected service areas are garbage collection, attendance to burst water and wastewater pipes and transportation of Metro Police officers to duty stations and patrol zones.”