In an embarrassing u-turn attributed to a disastrous planning failure at the inception of ZANU PF businessman Billy Rautenbach’s Green Fuel project, the Zimbabwean Government has reduced mandatory fuel blending using ethanol from 15% to 5%, the company having succumbed to a mere seven days of rainfall.
Energy and Power Development Minister Samuel Udenge was forced to make an announcement just before Christmas due to the disaster that would have seen long petrol queues emerge. Udenge told reporters in Harare  Wednesday  that ethanol production at the Billy Rautenbach owned Green Fuel Company in Chisumbanje was  on halt because of the rains which has made the entire field inaccessible.
“With the onset of the rainy season, heavy rains have been falling in Chisumbanje for the past week, rendering the fields inaccessible to cane harvesters due to the wet clay soils. This, in turn, has resulted in reduced production of ethanol,” said Udenge.
Business analysts argue that the development demonstrates how ill-prepared the investor was from the onset in this project which was rushed using powerful politicians and there were evidently no viability and environmental impact assessments done as is now clear since operations have been stopped by a mere 7 days of rain. The MDC-T has stood its ground arguing that Rautenbach should not have been given extra-preferential treatment and in a recent development former ZANU PF Mash West chair Temba Mliswa threatened to expose politicians linked to the mandatory blending scandal which has resulted in Green Fuel’s petrol being labelled “Rautenbach’s Urine”.
 

Meanwhile Udenge continued in his announcement saying, “once the rains stop and the soils dry up enough, cane harvesting and ethanol production will immediately resume.
In May 2013, the government, through the second respondent (ministry of Energy and Power Development) published the Petroleum ‘Mandatory Blending of Anhydrous ethanol unleaded petrol’ regulations Statutory Instrument 17 of 2013.
The regulations sought to establish the mandatory blend and compulsory blending of petrol in Zimbabwe with 5% ethanol fuel.
The government then later on, using Section 4 of the regulations gave Green Fuel a licence for a joint venture to supply ethanol fuel.
Government later on made it mandatory for ethanol-blending on E10, E15 and E20 petrol grades.