Meru Petroleum under fire for selling contaminated fuel
MOUNT Meru Petroleum Zimbabwe, the operator of Meru service stations, is under fire from motorists after one of the petrol storage tanks at its Mbare service station in Harare was contaminated with water, resulting in vehicles developing mechanical faults.
Motorists who had bought fuel on Wednesday night stormed the fuel station demanding answers.
They had no kind words for the station’s management while others were shouting at fuel attendants. Some motorists had their vehicles drained of the contaminated petrol and having it replaced with clean fuel.
In interviews, the motorists said the operator’s licence should be cancelled as the service station was prejudicing them.
They had now engaged the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) to test all the fuel at Meru service stations to establish its authenticity.
Mr Tashinga Musonza said he realised that he had been given contaminated petrol after his vehicle suddenly stopped while he was driving.
“I am disappointed with Meru. Imagine a reputable service station like this one selling contaminated fuel to its customers?
“This is very bad and had my car not stopped while I was driving after filling up my tank at the service station, I was going to think that it had developed a mechanical fault,” he said.
Ms Doreen Muyambo said the officials at Meru should compensate her and repair her vehicle.
“These people are not serious and I want them to compensate me. I no longer want their petrol and I will never fill my car with petrol at any of their service stations,” she said.
Other motorists were of the same view and demanded that the service station compensates them.
Mr Dhairya Solanki, one of the directors of Meru, said they have since compensated the affected motorists and they have closed the pump dispensing contaminated fuel pending investigations.
“We gave the motorists whose vehicles were affected their money back and we also gave them new fuel as well. We have closed the affected pump and we have people on the ground working to find out the cause of the contamination.”
Meru public relations officer Mr Moreblessing Cherayi also admitted that their fuel was contaminated and said they were working on rectifying the problem.
“There was a technical fault at Meru Service Station in Mbare. One of our tanks which was carrying blend petrol got contaminated with water. So we have shut down the tank completely and we are draining out all the product in that particular tank and we will proceed with normal operations after ZERA tests and approval,” he said.