Paul Nyathi|Fed up with being fed lies by government that the country has more than enough fuel in stock, Bulawayo business people have opted to go out and source Botswana fuel suppliers to deliver the commodity into the city to keep business running.
The business community in Bulawayo signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the private investors from Botswana to supply fuel into the city and setting up investments in different economic sectors in the province.
The deal, which would see Bulawayo business people and their counterparts co-operating in different areas, was facilitated by the Bulawayo industry think-tank.
In an interview after the signing of the MoU at Minister Ncube’s offices housed at Mhlahlandlela Government Complex on Friday, chairperson of the Bulawayo advisory board and think-tank Mr Kwanele Hlabangana said:
“Our thrust is to create employment in Bulawayo. We believe that the Government can do all it can but as a business community, we also have to play our part so we are sharing our knowledge and experience in business to complement Government efforts to turnaround the economy.
“The fuel situation in the country is dire as you can see from the long queues and therefore the intervention by the Botswana business people has come at the right time. They have promised to give us enough quantities of fuel to meet the city’s demands.”
The Botswana business delegation was led by Kelebogile Shomanah, the managing director of Hangana, a diversified Botswana-headquartered concern with interest in petroleum, mining and manufacturing, among others.
Hlabangana said in light of the prevailing supply gap, the Botswana investors were looking at starting with the fuel venture in Bulawayo before going national.
“We are ready and very excited. The investors have not only proposed to invest in the fuel sector but are also going to do manufacturing, diamond and pharmaceuticals.
Hlabangana said following the signing of the MoU, they will soon convene a meeting with all the city’s fuel dealers to work out how they can access the Botswana fuel.
“We have come up with good fuel prices but I cannot tell you the figures now. All what I can say now is that we are going to offer the public very good prices and also make sure that each and every filling station in the city has access to this fuel. In terms of supply, they have promised us that they will be able to supply on a daily basis. We are expecting more than two million litres per day of both diesel and petrol that will be coming through South Africa,” said Hlabangana.
He said they have set up a revolving fund, which was a 30-day payment where the local fuel dealers would be able to pay for the supplied fuel within a month.
“We will be getting the fuel on consignment and only when we have sold it that’s when we will pay the suppliers,” he said.
In a separate interview, Hangana legal representative Lewis Maunze said the MoU opened opportunities for them to invest in various economic projects in Bulawayo and Zimbabwe at large. For our projects, the most urgent one is to address the fuel shortage.
“We supply diesel, petrol, kerosene and even aviation fuel and what is urgent for most people is diesel and petrol.
“We really need to supply those as soon as possible but I’m sure we have to go through these processes guided by the MoUs we signed,” he said.