If only I was energy minister, Mzembi

via If only I was energy minister, Mzembi 08 January 2015

TOURISM Minister Walter Mzembi has questioned why Zimbabwe has not benefited from the plunge in global oil prices saying had he been in charge of the energy portfolio he would order an immediate investigation.

Wholesale fuel prices on the global market have fallen by a quarter and many countries including neighbouring South Africa and Zambia have seen pump prices coming down as well.

In Zimbabwe the opposite is the case as motorists continue to pay between $1.50 c and $1.56 c for a litre of petrol and $1.44 c for a litre of diesel.

But Mzembi strongly objected to the trend, becoming the first government official to publicly support motorists who have been calling upon the state to investigate the fuel cartels in the country.

“If I was the minister of energy, I would urgently order an investigation of the fuel industry in this country; there is something that is amiss in terms of its inability to pass those bonanzas in terms of price mark down on the price of fuel that come from time to time.

“Why is Zimbabwe not benefitting? It speaks to some kind of cartel, collusions which should be investigated and if it’s allowed to continue it makes our sector uncompetitive,” he said.

Mzembi said high fuel prices do not make sense and called upon the relevant ministry to institute an investigation into the fuel cartel industry.

He said as he shares the same office with the energy minister Samuel Undenge he was going to go straight to his office and ask him to explain why the country continued to see high fuel prices when they were falling down the world over.

Mzembi said this Wednesday after Zimbabwe received a $100 000 donation from the Royal Dutch Embassy to participate at this year’s Vakantiebeurs tourism expo. The expo will run from the 13th to the 18th of January in the Netherlands and is going to give Zimbabwe an opportunity to showcase itself as a tourism destination.

The minister said the high fuel prices were not only affecting motorists but Zimbabwe as a whole.

“Even the airline industry has come to my office complaining about the price of Jet A1 and if we keep quiet and we don’t interrogate some of these chains then we are bound to fail.”

“Why should we remain the only country that does not mark down its prices in line with international trends?”

“Until there is a hullabaloo that’s then they just adjusts maybe by 4c or 5c.”

But analysts said Mzembi was probably playing to the gallery especially as he is himself part of a government in which all ministries are virtually under- performing due to high profile corruption and the totalitarian nature of the Zimbabwean state.

Despite being praised by Mugabe as one of the best ministers Mzembi is not known to have made any significant policy changes that benefitted the country and the poor.

It was under his current tenure that a number of elephants were poisoned in Hwange by poachers.

“I think Mzembi understands that people want to hear such statements but at the same time he knows that Undenge cannot make any significant changes. At the end of the day it is just a pot calling the kettle black. What is happening in the energy ministry could be little in comparison with what may be taking place in the tourism industry. It’s all skeletons, the whole government is rotten,” said Nevson Bango a PhD student at Limkokwing University.

Recently the Zimbabwe Regulatory Authority (ZERA) blamed the “fuel pricing template” and hunger for tax dollars for the continuing trend.

CEO Gloria Magombo told Newzimbabwe.com that fuel pricing in Zimbabwe has a template and this is defined in Statutory Instrument 80 of 2014 which clearly states how the price build-up of fuel is done.