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Mechanics of chaos
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2003-34
Monday 25th - Sunday 31st August, 2003

Government’s reaction to the numerous crises afflicting Zimbabwe’s economy has been so confusing that the normal parameters of justice no longer appear to exist. Its handling of the fuel and the persistent cash shortages are cases in point.

During the week government announced the increase in the pump price of petrol for private fuel companies from $450 per litre to $1 170 and that of diesel from $200 to $1 060 per litre, but disguised the move as "deregulation" of the fuel sector meant to alleviate the shortage of the commodity. As with other policies, the government easily found allies in the media it controls to mislead and confuse the public on the latest development. For example, ZTV (27/8, 8pm), which broke the news, buried the issue in its business section and reported that, "…a dual pricing system will be in operation with fuel procured through NOCZIM being sold at gazetted prices while the rest will be made available at market-determined levels." It then quoted Energy Minister Amos Midzi as saying, "My ministry expects all companies to put in place a transparent fuel pricing system. They will be required to submit to my ministry their fuel cost build-up and justify all costs involved before a price adjustment is agreed upon." The station did not challenge Midzi on this evident contradiction between setting a price and why he would set fuel prices for private companies, or order them to seek his approval on their pricing system, if their operations were to be determined by market forces.

This question still remained unanswered in the following day’s Herald and Chronicle reports on the issue. And none of the media actually told the public the percentage of this massive increase. Just like ZTV, the two papers reported that private oil companies were the ones who had set the new fuel prices, following the ‘deregulation’ of the industry. They did not explain why private companies would settle for such low prices when they were already selling the commodity at anything above $1 500 per litre. However, The Daily News (28/8), The Financial Gazette (28/8) and The Zimbabwe Independent (29/8) exposed the government-controlled media’s lie and revealed that it was actually the government that had increased the price of fuel. The Zimbabwe Independent quoted an unnamed fuel company executive, revealing that private companies were not happy with the prices saying "We are not party to that arrangement because it does not make business sense for us to import fuel and sell it at a loss".

This latest move came amid reports that police had seized 35 000 litres of fuel from an indigenous oil company, Comoil, and arrested a senior company official, accusing him of selling the commodity at black market prices (The Herald, 27/8). However, the paper failed to ask the authorities why they would selectively punish Comoil when the practice has been taking place for weeks and has been instrumental in keeping the country’s battered economy operating. Some oil dealers even placed advertisements in the Press marketing their business.

In fact, the latest attempt by government to solve the fuel shortage was by no means the only issue highlighting government’s illogical approach to dealing with the myriad economic adversities afflicting the country. The barrage of new decrees and regulations appear to have confused the police as well as the public. For example, The Daily News (27/8) reported that in spite of the severe cash shortages, the police had arrested and charged under the repressive Public Order and Security Act, a Harare bank manager and a commercial farmer who assisted members of the Cross Border Traders’ Association to deposit $20 million cash. This was despite the fact that the deposit was made well within the government’s deadline for cross border dealers to repatriate and deposit the cash allegedly in their possession.

As if that was not enough, The Sunday Mail (31/8) and The Standard (31/8) reported that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) had withdrawn the National Merchant Bank’s (NMB) foreign currency trading licence for allegedly dealing in illegal foreign currency transactions. But there was no explanation as to why NMB should have been selectively targeted.

While The Sunday Mail merely restricted itself to the RBZ statement, The Standard quoted economists as saying the crackdown on banks "was a ploy to victimise bankers for the shortage of foreign currency which lies squarely on government’s destructive and populist policies".

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