Fuel smuggling in Zimbabwe has become so rife that the country’s revenue authority, Zimra, is checking each and every Hazchem load passing through the Chirundu border into Zambia, with potentially disastrous consequences.
Earlier today an operator sent footage to the Transit Assistance Bureau (Transist), the cross-border facilitator run by the Federation of East and Southern Road Transport Associations (Fesarta), showing a queue of tankers stretching four kilometers south of the Zambezi crossing.
He said it was a nightmare.
“They’re checking each and every truck without replacing the (cargo) seals.”
Fesarta chief executive Mike Fitzmaurice called it an “unhealthy situation”.
He said although tankers were designed in such a way to secure their combustible content, 40 000-litre trucks were not supposed to be standing in the sun for hours and hours.
“I’ve worked for a fuel company myself and have seen what can happen to fuel if it’s held in a confined space, in heat, for too long. I’ve seen for myself how tankers in such situations carry fuel that is bubbling.”
Zimra though has drawn a hard line against smuggling, currently out of control in a country where up to two tankers a day are emptied of fuel and refilled with water before passing through Chirundu.
In a bid to stop this from happening, Zimra won’t let a single tanker cross into Zambia without checking its contents – and that involves the dipping of trucks to ensure that loads are legit.
The transporter who informed Transist of the queue south of Chirundu said about two tankers a day crossed into Zambia with water and not fuel.
Fitzmaurice said although it was understood why loads were being dipped, “Zimra doesn’t have the resources for it.
“They’re taking trucks three-three at a time to check and it’s taking too long, hence the buildup.”
“It’s out of hand,” the transporter said.
“We had a meeting the other day with Zimra and the ZRA (Zambia Revenue Authority), where we were told that Zimbabwe doesn’t actually want to accept transit loads anymore.
“If you’re coming in to deliver fine, but not to take out. Soon we may all be forced to go around Zimbabwe. But what if you’re a Zim-registered transporter and your driver has to go through Zimbabwe?”
Because of the restrictive measures implemented to curb smuggling in Zimbabwe, some tankers are already beginning to go around.
Loads from Sasol in South Africa, for example, are going through Botswana and into Zambia at Kazungula.
And although fuel imported through the Port of Beira can go through Tete and cross into Zambia north of Cassacatiza, “that road is shot”, the transporter said.
“It’s just a really bad situation at the moment. They make us wait, break our seals without replacing them, and expect us to carry on operating as if nothing’s wrong,” he said.
* This is a developing story.
