By Ziyah News Network Reporter
Harare- For a long a time, motorists have raised alarm over some of the fuel available on the Zimbabwean market. High on the list has been the issue of petrol blend with some drivers reporting reduced mileage per litre and in worse case scenarios, damaged engines.
Majority of those who had raised red flags on some of the fuel on the market will be feeling vindicated after the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) has issued a statement confirming the sanctioning of certain fuel sellers for failing to meet the required quality standards.
Some of the offences relating to duel quality as confirmed by ZERA include the selling of contaminated blend, diesel with others caught selling blended petrol and unblended while two offenders were caught selling petrol laced with water. A repeat offender on the list of the rogue fuel merchants, Elima branch in Ruwa had its licence cancelled and the site closed after being caught selling contaminated blend and diesel repeatedly.
ZERA has said it will not relent in its pursuit of quality in the fuel sector urging motorists to report an incidences they encounter related to fuel quality to the regulatory authority.
“The net is closing in on operators involved in the supply and retail of fuel that does not meet fuel quality specifications and the operators have been sanctioned for the fuel quality offences committed during the first half of 2024.”
“Motorists experiencing vehicle performance problems after fuelling and refuelling at any filling station are urged to quickly contact ZERA to enable the Authority to take relevant samples from the concerned site for testing,” concluded ZERA in its statement.
While motorist will be pleased that ZERA making steps to safeguard their vehicles, the general feeling is what the Authority is flagging is nothing but just a tip of the iceberg and more needs to be done to weed out errant operators.