Chronicle Editor
Wild rumours fuelled by ignorant social media messages have caused a surprising number of Zimbabweans to panic about the availability of petrol and diesel, with some otherwise responsible companies stockpiling in case there is a shortage over the festive period.
This is why the authorities are now giving details about the financial arrangements already made to ensure continued flows of supplies to garages.
We have already been told the two vital facts. First exporters of fuel to Zimbabwe have been more than happy to ship stocks to the country and store it here in bond.
This means that the importers need only pay a short while before they want to take delivery and they do not have to waste their scarce capital in holding massive stocks themselves. More importantly, for the average company or individual this means that there is no delay to account for shipping.
Secondly, the Reserve Bank has made it clear that fuel imports have a high priority when the money earned from exports is allocated. And the fact that there have been no stock-outs arising from late payments to suppliers, backs the seriousness of this promise and the priority.
That is not to say that some garages sometimes run out of fuel, especially petrol, occasionally. But this is not a result of payment problems but of the logistics of moving fuel from depots to garages when faced by two trends.
Many private motorists in Zimbabwe have an obsession with filling their tanks on Fridays, especially in the afternoon and evening, and many want to do this at the end of the month when their pay reaches their bank accounts.
The result is that a fair number of garages run out of petrol, the fuel used by most private cars, on month-end Fridays and a few run out on other Friday evenings. Within a day or two the tanker owners have managed to make a delivery to almost all garages. But it is unreasonable to expect the petrol tanker fleet to be able to supply a quarter or third of a week’s deliveries in a few hours on Friday evening.
Stock outs of diesel are far rarer, even though diesel accounts for more than 60 percent of sales, simply because diesel is largely a fuel bought by commercial users who tend to have consumption and purchases spread evenly over the week and month, meaning the tanker fleet is not faced by huge spikes in delivery logistics.
We hope that more people will now accept the fact that social media allows anyone to start a rumour easily, but that these rumours are just that, unverified facts. Professional media concerns, whether online, electronic or print, try and verify facts before publishing. It is this integrity that allows journalists to earn a living.
It is also fairly obvious that some garages are indulging in weird deals over cash, and quite often are not able to pay their suppliers on time and so go short. They try and explain this by abetting and enlarging rumours.
But major chains of service stations do not indulge in this and generally have stocks which they always sell at a single set price, regardless of whether the customer is buying with foreign banknotes, bond notes, a Zimswitch card, mobile money or even RTGS payments from commercial customers.
That the overwhelming bulk of fuel is sold by these majors suggests strongly that inefficiencies and side dealing are the cause of odd payment demands and the like by some smaller retailers.
In other words consumers should be sensible and rational, accepting the evidence of their own eyes rather than trusting unknown rumour mongers.
Online Reporter