The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) has temporarily suspended the issuing of new licences for fuel stations in urban areas, citing a need to curb the “mushrooming” of retail filling stations across the country.

The regulator is also considering a new by-law that would enforce a minimum distance of 15 kilometres between two retail service stations while also advocating for a shift towards containerised or portable fuel retail stations in urban centres to reduce land use.

This development follows the Harare City Council’s recent admission of chaos and poor coordination in issuing permits for service stations, resulting in three fuel stations within a 50 km radius, with some located just one metre apart.

Speaking during an Environmental Social Governance (ESG) conference held in Harare last Friday, Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority’s technical services director, Engineer Man’arai Ndovorwi, said they are now working on closing all loopholes to curb the mushrooming of service stations.

“The issue of mushrooming of service stations in the CBD or in urban centres is, of course, of concern for us, and I think one of the challenges or loopholes that we had in our legislation was the licensing of these sites after they had obtained commercial rights in terms of development of these properties in urban centres,” he said.

“However, we are currently in talks with the local authorities to ensure that we revise the by-laws so that the actual permitting and licensing of these service stations is done before the development of these service stations, and so that we also amend our regulations to indicate the minimum distances that should be between service stations.”

Eng Ndovorwi also revealed that new licences will only be issued after the current challenges have been addressed.

“We are happy that the Government, through the Minister of Local Government and Public Works, issued a moratorium in terms of development in urban centres, and this is also not only impacting in terms of housing developments, but it’s also involving the development of these commercial entities or commercial sites in terms of development of service stations.

“So that moratorium is also applying to the development of service stations, and so currently we are not licensing any service stations in urban areas, but at least we are also working around the issue to ensure that we have minimum safe distances between these service stations being established.”

In urban areas, Eng Ndovorwi said, they were pushing for the minimum distance between retail fuel stations to curb further mushrooming of such facilities.

“In other jurisdictions, we find that the minimum distance between these service stations should be around 15 kilometres, so that is what we are also anticipating to happen as we develop our communities and move outside the CBDs to actually also do investment in rural communities.”

In the future, Eng Ndovorwi added that traditional fuel stations in urban areas will be phased out.

“So we are now encouraging them to put containerised fuel stations, which are coming at 20 percent of the cost of putting up a service station. So this is actually a way to help issues of mushrooming of service stations in the epicentres.”

A containerised or portable fuel retail station is a complete, self-contained fuel storage and dispensing unit built inside a standard shipping container.

The storage tanks are above ground, and the shipping container provides secondary containment.

They are also called portable fuel stations because the container installation can be transported on a low-bed trailer as and when necessary.

ZANU-PF has released a statement explaining how internal party vacancies should be properly filled through co-option, based on Sections 554 and 555 of the Party Constitution.

This comes after two earlier circulars (numbers 0634 and 0635) were mistakenly sent out and have now been officially withdrawn. In a new directive signed by the Secretary for Legal Affairs, Cde P.A. Chinamasa, all party structures—including District Coordinating Committees (DCCs)—have been told to follow the correct constitutional procedures when carrying out co-options.

Key Provisions and Guidelines:

• Three-Month Deadline: Any vacant position must be filled within three months through co-option.
• Start with Consensus: The organ must first try to agree on one replacement. If two candidates are suggested and no agreement is reached, a vote must be held. The person with the most votes wins, as long as enough members are present.
• Same District Rule: The person chosen must come from the same district as the one being replaced.
• Organ Dissolution Rule: If one-third or more of the positions in any organ (except the Central Committee) become vacant, the whole organ will be dissolved.
• Flexible Role Assignment: The person co-opted does not have to take over the same position. They can be given other duties as long as fairness and proper representation are maintained.
• Observers Only: Members from other party organs can attend co-option meetings, but only to observe. They cannot speak, vote, or interfere in any way.

DCC-Specific Rules:

Only official DCC members listed in Article 13, Sections 144 (1) to 144 (25), can take part in co-option. For Women’s Affairs, Youth Affairs, or War Veterans Affairs, the vacancy must be filled by someone from the same wing within the district.

Enforcement:

Provincial leaders must make sure co-option meetings are held quickly when a vacancy occurs and that all procedures are followed correctly. Meeting minutes and results must be sent to the National Political Commissar’s office within seven days.

Cde Chinamasa made it clear that these rules will not apply to past actions. They only apply to future co-option processes. If these procedures are not followed, any such co-option will be considered invalid.

By: Bright F. Zindove

Richmond Landfill (Ngozi mine) is situated in the northern fringes of the city of Bulawayo, between Richmond and Cowdray Park Suburbs. The dumpsite is home to more than 400 households. 

Residents residing near the site and surrounding suburb are making a living from the dumpsite. Early in the morning, from my backyard view, men, women and children can be seen going to work, at Ngozi Mine, some carrying big bags for packaging whatever they could scavenge for resale and recycling. This illustrates that the dumpsite is a place of ‘opportunity’ and people are making a living out of it, through refuse collection and recycling ♻️. 

Environmental and health wise, one can say the site is a ticking time bomb. Residents from surrounding areas wake-up in a cloud of smoke. They inhale hazardous carbons from Ngozi Mine, and this exposes them to respiratory disease. Some of these disease may affect them in the coming years. 

In accordance with the World Health Organization’s guidelines, the air quality in Zimbabwe is considered moderately unsafe. Most recent data indicate the country’s annual mean concentration of PM2.5 is almost double the recommended maximum of 10 µg/m3.

A double-edged sword indeed, which needs a peculiar solution from all stakeholders; residents, city father’s, non governmental organisations, media and government. The intervention should be a world class recycling factory, which is going to be a source of ‘opportunity’ and ‘defender of pollution.’ 

Disclaimer: These are the views of the writer and not the institution.