mal”>HARARE – President Robert Mugabe has threatened to seize the facilities of leading oil companies operating in the country and use them to distribute fuel, accusing them of refusing to cooperate with government.

At the annual conference of his ruling Zanu (PF) party held at Goromonzi High School, Mugabe said that the Government could ‘acquire’ service stations and storage facilities, compensate the companies to which they belonged and dispense the fuel.

The 82-year old president accused the oil companies of selling petrol and diesel at black market rates.

“Do the petroleum companies want to cooperate with us or not?” Mugabe asked.

There are five multinational oil firms with a presence in Zimbabwe – BP, Shell, Mobil, Total and Caltex – and their assets are worth millions of pounds.

Lawyers said that such a move would be illegal.

One lawyer, who did not wish to be named, said: “It would be patently unconstitutional. Besides, most of the international oil companies are covered by bilateral treaties from this kind of nationalisation.”

The President’s remarks came two weeks after the Government said that it was drafting a new policy within its so-called ‘indigenisation’ programme to prioritise fuel supplies to the 24 ‘independent’ companies licensed to retail fuel, nearly all of which are owned by senior Zanu (PF) officials.

Fuel reserves in the country have reached their lowest levels in seven years, since leading oil companies cut off supplies to the state-owned National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM) when the Government failed to pay arrears for imports.

Mugabe told the conference that the oil companies were making huge profits while the Government made losses from importing fuel via NOCZIM, which sells it on – for just $325 a litre, making Zimbabwean fuel among the world’s cheapest – to the multinationals to distribute.
Economists say that total state control over fuel distribution would condemn the industry to the same failures affecting much of the country’s agriculture, transport, mining, telecommunications, railways and power industries.

“Mugabe’s thinking is that taps make water,” a Western diplomat said. “If he goes ahead (with the takeover of multinational service stations), the country will dry up far quicker than it is doing already.”

In the past week, the queues of drivers have lengthened and more service stations have been putting up ‘no fuel’ signs. Vehicles abandoned at the roadside for lack of fuel have become commonplace.

In Marondera, a small town east of Goromonzi High School, the venue for the ruling party conference, fuel was available only for party officials. This reporter was told at a Mobil service station that he could buy petrol only if he could prove that he was a delegate.