Backyard filling stations are sprouting in this eastern border African city as unemployed locals take advantage of the slumping Mozambican metical against US dollar to smuggle fuel into the country through the porous border
This development has hit registered fuel stations hard as local motorists who are hit by economic meltdown opt for cheaper fuel being sold in backyards.
The locals are buying unleaded petrol at o cost of $.50 a litre in Moz against $1.25 being charged by filling stations for blended fuel.
Unemployed youths are seeing this as an opportunity to raise income and the backyard stations are charging between $.80 and $1 per litre depending on the quantity they purchase.
Bribing border guards
A local fuel dealer Craig Mandimutsira commented " We are trying to eke out a living because there is no employment here" He said they they buy fuel at Mozambiques Manica town, which is 35 km away and smuggle it in to Zimbabwe during the night using undesignated entry points.
In doing so they must bribe the cops and soldiers on duty. "We have to bribe them if we want to cross. They are also trying to survive because life has become so difficult for almost everyone in the country"
However, police have been cracking down on backyard sites. Last week a local woman was arrested when she was caught in possesion of 320 litres, packed in 20 litre containers and sentenced to a four month in prison unless she pays a $200 fine.
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