By A Correspondent- A fuel service station at Lupane centre is allegedly selling petrol contaminated with water.

Motorists who spoke to Chronicle said three cars failed to start after topping fuel at the station and they immediately engaged the garage petrol attendants who drained the fuel from the cars. Said one of the affected motorists:

I went to the station where I bought fuel and upon leaving, my car showed warnings on the dashboard and could not start.

I had driven about 300 metres from the garage. I noticed they had sold me contaminated fuel and went back to make a complaint.

They offered to drain the contaminated fuel and promised that the car would not be affected as they had drained another car with a similar problem.

They flashed it out and the car is moving now but it releases thick white smoke from the exhaust.

The pump was damaged and I suspect the injectors were damaged too which has affected combustion.

Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) chief executive Addington Mazambane on Sunday said  ZERA will investigate the allegations. Said Mazambane:

We encourage our stakeholders to quickly alert us when they have such a problem so that we immediately engage the retailer before many people are affected. Our Bulawayo team is going to investigate.

He also urged motorists to quickly report all cases of suspected fuel contamination so that the authorities can investigate and institute corrective measures.-statemedia