 |
|
|
|
|
| author/source:Reuters |
| published:Mon 25-Apr-2005 |
| posted on this site:Tue 26-Apr-2005 |
|
| Article Type : News |
|
| Disease feared |
 |
|
By Stella Mapenzauswa
Harare - Zimbabwe's fuel crisis worsened on Monday with most garages in the capital Harare saying their supplies had run dry, adding to the misery of erratic electricity and water supplies. The crisis-ridden southern African state has seen an upsurge in commodity shortages since soon after March 31 parliamentary elections which returned President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party to power amid opposition cries of rigging. "We haven't had petrol here for days and the diesel delivery we had over the weekend ran out within hours," said an attendant at a Harare garage which gets its supplies from state oil importer NOCZIM. The government revoked NOCZIM's previous monopoly on imports a few years ago, allowing a slew of mostly black-owned new companies to bring in their own fuel, but these have been stymied by a persistent foreign currency crunch. Residents in the second city of Bulawayo, host later this week to a week-long international trade fair, also said they struggled for weeks to fill up their car tanks.
Zimbabwe has suffered erratic fuel supplies since 1999, when key donors led by the International Monetary Fund withdrew support over policy differences with the government. Critics say Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, has crippled a once-vibrant economy through skewed policy decisions including the controversial seizure of white-owned commercial farms for landless blacks, a programme they say has destroyed the mainstay agriculture sector. Foreign cash inflows are a trickle as exporters struggle to stay in business in a harsh climate, and analysts estimate that foreign exchange auctions controlled by the central bank are only meeting about 8 percent of importer demand. The foreign currency crisis has also affected electricity supplies, 35 percent of which state power utility ZESA has to import from neighbouring countries. Last Friday ZESA said it was unable to access its electricity imports from the Democratic Republic of Congo due to a transmission failure, and that lack of spares for maintenance of some of its generators had also hit supplies. Cash-strapped ZESA has struggled to import enough power from its neighbours in past years, leading to frequent power cuts that have disrupted industrial production.
On Monday the private-owned Daily Mirror newspaper said Zimbabwe's central city of Kadoma had experienced water supply problems in the past week due to power cuts by Zesa. The paper quoted residents as saying they feared an outbreak of disease as electricity-powered pumps failed to draw adequate water to the town. Mugabe denies misruling the country over the past 25 years, arguing the economy has fallen victim to domestic and foreign opponents of his farm seizures.
back to top |
|
|
|
|
