By Dorrothy Moyo| The Energy Minister speaking in parliament on Wednesday appeared to boast while saying, “We have diesel in bond warehouse that can last for 23 days. We also have the pipeline in Beira pumping fuel into the country. Therefore, what we are facing are not challenges of fuel in the country.”
BELOW IS THE FULL TEXT OF THE EXCHANGE:
*HON. CHIKWINYA: Thank you Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Energy and Power Development, Hon. Gumbo and I believe he is in the House today. However, before I pose my question, allow me together with this august House to recognise and congratulate Hon. Kirsty Coventry for giving birth to a baby on Friday. It is not a new issue that people give birth but I have never seen a pregnant Minister before, that is why I have seen it as pertinent to congratulate her. I have also been continuously seeing her duties until she gave birth. I also hope that Hon. Nzenza by the end of the year would have addressed that issue as well.
My question to the Minister of Energy is that since January, we have been experiencing unending long fuel queues. Therefore, I am requesting that the Hon. Minister explains to the House Government’s measures and when these long unwinding fuel queues will come to an end.
THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER
DEVELOPMENT (HON. DR. GUMBO): Thank you Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank Hon. Chikwinya for the question he raised. Although it is not in relation to policy, in which policy says that people should be able to access fuel. What he has requested is that he wants to understand what the Government is doing to ensure that we have fuel that is accessible. I think that on that matter, I would have required a Ministerial Statement but despite that, let me say that the Ministry of Energy and Power Development’s main mandate is to engage companies outside the country that produce oil so that it can be brought into the country. Once the oil is within the country, there would be need of foreign currency that should be used by companies such as Total, Zuva and Engen to go and then buy that oil because they would have been brought into the country in RTGS$. So, that is the duty of Ministry of Finance and Economic Development; it has nothing to do with my Ministry but it is my hope once the economic situation improves, the foreign currency will be available – [HON. SIKHALA: Inaudible interjections.] –
THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, Hon. Sikhala! If you have got an issue, why not wait for a supplementary question.
HON. SIKHALA: Understood Mr. Speaker Sir. I think the Minister is diverting the question from the Hon. Member. The Hon. Member is talking about mitigating the situation of today and he is saying what he hopes, we do not want to hear about that but how to mitigate these measures today.
*THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Sikhala, what you mentioned is supposed to be said by the Chair. I am here as the Chair and still in control. Let the Hon. Minister complete his statement. If you are not satisfied with his response, you can pose supplementary questions.
* THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. DR. GUMBO): Mr. Speaker Sir, I had explained that the question raised by Hon. Chikwinya is important and is a good question but it a question that has been raised since January. If he had requested me to explain what is happening today, I would have explained that. I had to give the historical background because he mentioned the period from January. If I understood Shona so well, he said, since January, we have been witnessing long winding queues which are still there and his question was, when will this come to an end. I gave a back ground that all of us as Hon. Members should know what
is happening because any one of us can become a Minister tomorrow and they should know the mandate of my Ministry in terms of fuel and oil. I said our mandate is to procure oil and fuel from outside the country. Once it comes into the country, forex which is needed by oil companies to access the fuel that will be stored in the bond warehouse for it to be available in filling stations, that is what I do. Concerning what Hon. Chikwinya, assisted by Hon. Sikhala have said why we are still seeing winding queues today – before I came into the august House Mr. Speaker, I talked to the Reserve Bank Governor. He informed me that he had released funds and the five big companies in the country such as ZUVA, Engen and Sakhunda which is Puma have started procuring oils. The ACs have begun transporting fuel to service stations. We are hoping that by the end of the day, tomorrow and the following days, fuel will be available in the country. I thank you.
*HON. MAUSWA: My supplementary question is that the Hon. Minister has said his Ministry is responsible for securing oil from other countries, how much fuel do we have currently which his Ministry has managed to secure for Zimbabwe?
*HON. DR. GUMBO: I thank the Hon. Member for the question. We have a month’s supply of petrol in the country. We have about two million in Mabvuku and Msasa. We have diesel in bond warehouse that can last for 23 days. We also have the pipeline in Beira pumping fuel into the country. Therefore, what we are facing are not challenges of fuel in the country but the shortage of foreign currency that is affecting the fuel situation to enable service stations to continue getting forex from the RBZ in order to feed the service stations. I thank you.
HON. P. D. SIBANDA: In his response, the Hon. Minister indicated that his Ministry simply deals with importing fuel that will be under bond warehouse. My supplementary question is, which department is responsible for purchasing of ethanol which is compulsorily or mandatorily blended in our fuel in this country? What is the mischief of mandatorily blending ethanol which you are buying from a private player, imposing it upon the whole nation? Thank you Mr. Speaker.
THE HON. SPEAKER: That is a very good question Hon. Member but it does not arise – [HON. P. D. SIBANDA: Inaudible interjection.] – I have ruled. You can ask that question.
HON. GONESE: In his response, the Hon. Minister indicated that the crux of the problem emanates from our lack of foreign currency and I will beg your indulgence to redirect that supplementary question to the Leader of Government Business to clarify for us and to the nation. We have had this perennial problem for quite a long time. What is Government policy to holistically deal with the issue in sustainable way so that we do not continuously have these intermittent shortages and problems which are recurring from time to time?
THE HON. SPEAKER: I am afraid again, that is not a supplementary question. It is a totally comprehensive new question altogether.