GOVERNMENT is set to introduce a fuel tracking system that will monitor the movement and distribution of fuel in service stations in a bid to curb corruption cases causing fuel shortages.
Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa told a post-Cabinet media briefing in the capital, Tuesday that government through the Ministry of Energy, will install a system to track the movement and distribution of fuel.
“As part of measures to address this unsavoury state of affairs, a system to track the movement and distribution of fuel is already at the initial stage of installation,” Mutsvangwa said.
Energy Minister Fortune Chasi told journalists at the same press conference that the system’s mandate is to monitor every movement of fuel from Msasa Depot to all service stations and also how the fuel is handled during distribution.
“Government would like to understand the fuel situation as soon as it gets into the country,” Chasi said.
Chasi added that the plan is to regulate the distribution of fuel at selling points and ensure even deliveries across to country while “preventing shortages and smuggling of fuel.”
“As the Minister, I would like to know who picked up how much fuel from Msasa, what vehicle did that and where did the fuel go to with respect to service stations. I want to be able to interrogate the service stations from my office or home using my laptop or iPad,” he added.
Chasi said the system had already been installed at Central Mechanical Equipment Department (CMED) but he was yet to analyse it.
“We already have the system and has been installed at CMED, very robust. I am going to analyse it and see what other parameters we can put in there,” said Chasi.
The Energy Minister who ironically last week was accused of lying that Zimbabwe had paid South African power utility Eskom US$10 million as part of measures to clear a US$433 million debt declared the “era of lies is over.”
“People have been telling me that some service stations only serve three people and then they say the fuel is finished. The era of lies in this sector should soon come to an end and we are going to do whatever is necessary to end that,” he added.
“We need to be sensitive to the economic activities that are happening and so our fuel must speak to those situations.”
