WIRE:02/25/2000 14:25:00 ET Zimbabwe minister quits as fuel crisis deepens HARARE, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Transport and Energy Minister Enos Chikowore resigned on Friday as Zimbabwe's three-month-old fuel crisis worsened, crippling many sectors of industry and severely restricting daily life. "Having considered the prevailing problems, the honourable thing for me to do is to resign with immediate effect," Chikowore said in his resignation letter, which was made available to state media.

Chikowore told Reuters he did not know whether President Robert Mugabe had accepted his resignation, and declined further comment.

Most petrol stations in Harare ran dry on Friday, and a survey showed that business and tourism, already hard hit by lack of fuel, expected the impact to deepen in the coming weeks.

Construction firms surveyed by the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) were operating at 57 percent of capacity and expected this to fall to 42 percent in the next three weeks.

The survey found that tourism was currently operating at 53 percent of capacity and expected this to fall to 31 percent.

"So far the business community has lost billions of dollars as a result of the crisis," ZNCC chief executive Wonder Maisiri said in a statement. "Business will soon come to a standstill if nothing drastic is done within the next few days," he added.

Oil industry sources blame the fuel shortage on a lack of hard currency and corruption by former managers at state fuel importer NOCZIM, whose credit lines have been severed because it has run up debts of Z$9 billion ($237 million).

The fuel shortage is the most visible sign of the country's worst economic crisis in decades, which many Zimbabweans blame on mismanagement by a government that has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980.

The key tobacco industry said the fuel shortage would seriously hamper land preparation and this could cut next season's crop by about 20 percent, representing a U.S.$70 million loss in earnings. Tobacco accounts for about one-third of Zimbabwe's annual foreign exchange earnings.

In the capital Harare, queues stretched for hundreds of metres at the few garages which still had fuel, and riot police were deployed to control them. State radio said one man had been shot and wounded in a scuffle at a fuel queue on Thursday night.

The ZNCC's Maisiri attacked the government for remaining silent on the fuel crisis, saying this was causing uncertainty.

"The government seem not to treat the fuel shortage as a very urgent matter. In other countries...the minister responsible or the president could have come on the airwaves to address the nation on any emergency measures being undertaken," he said.

On Friday BP South Africa said it had signed a deal with Zimbabwe under which BP Amoco's joint venture refinery in Durban would supply NOCZIM with petrol and diesel.

"BP has operated in Zimbabwe for 80 years. BP is one of the country's largest suppliers of liquid fuels and with this goes a responsibility to all our stakeholders," a BP spokesman said.

South African synthetic fuels producer Sasol spokesman Alfonso Niemand said the company was in negotiations with NOCZIM on a long-term supply contract, which should be signed in the next few days.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20000225_2758.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), February 25, 2000

Answers

This from the BBC.

Saturday, 26 February, 2000, 09:15 GMT Zimbabwe energy minister resigns

Zimbabwe's Transport and Energy Minister Enos Chikowore has resigned because he says he has failed to solve the country's worsening fuel crisis.

Business will soon come to a standstill if nothing drastic is done within the next few days Wonder Maisiri, Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce "Having considered the prevailing problems, the honourable thing for me to do is to resign with immediate effect," said Mr Chikowore in his resignation letter. He had been a minister for 18 years, and had served in the government since independence in 1980.

During his three years as energy minister, the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim) has almost completely collapsed.

State-run Noczim, the monopoly fuel importer, has debts of $237m.

Oil industry sources blame the fuel shortage on a lack of hard currency and corruption by former Noczim managers.

Shooting

Most petrol stations in the capital Harare ran dry on Friday, and queues stretched for hundreds of metres at the few garages which still had fuel. Riot police were deployed to control them.

In one incident a driver fired four pistol shots at a car he claimed jumped its turn in a fuel queue.

A similar scarcity of paraffin has affected the millions of Zimbabweans who use it as their main fuel for cooking.

Heavy rains have further disrupted fuel supplies.

On Friday, the main Beitbridge crossing from South Africa was closed, after the swollen Limpopo River that divides the two countries burst its banks.

On Tuesday, Cyclone Eline heavily damaged the Mozambican port of Beira, through which 70% of Zimbabwe's fuel imports pass.

Standstill

A survey by the Zimbabwean National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) shows that business and tourism, already hard hit by lack of fuel, expects the impact to deepen in the coming weeks.

"So far the business community has lost billions of dollars as a result of the crisis," ZNCC chief executive Wonder Maisiri said in a statement.

"Business will soon come to a standstill if nothing drastic is done within the next few days," he added.

The tobacco industry said the fuel shortage would seriously hamper land preparation and this could cut next season's crop by about 20 %.

Tobacco accounts for about one-third of Zimbabwe's annual foreign exchange earnings.

On Friday BP South Africa said it had signed a deal with Zimbabwe under which BP Amoco's joint venture refinery in Durban would supply Noczim with petrol and diesel.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_657000/657687.stm

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), February 26, 2000.