Fuel shortages bite

Queues grew outside fuel stations across the country this week as motorists even resorted to sleeping in their cars overnight in the hope of filling up, according news reports and eye witness accounts.

Traffic in the centre of the capital, Harare, became choked as queues wound around city blocks and motorists waited on average six hours for petrol which some stations limited to 10 or five litres per vehicle.

For poorer people who rely on paraffin for cooking and heating, supplies were also said to be running low with people sometimes having to wait a whole day to fill a plastic container.

"If anyone shouted 'pamberi neZanu-PF' (forward with ZANU-PF), around here, they would be lynched," the South African Press Association (SAPA) quoted a garage owner as saying.

Zimbabwe's fuel crisis began in December last year when international oil companies cut off supplies because the state-owned National Oil Company of Zimbabwe failed to meet payments on its debt for fuel purchases.

The crisis continued until early April when Mugabe, keenly aware of the effect on his plummeting popularity, personally took control of the situation and struck a deal with a Kuwaiti company, International Petroleum Group, for US $60 million worth of fuel.