Government’s latest measures for the energy and transport sectors have been questioned as to their effectiveness, and the motive behind them.
Academic and political analyst, Alex Magaisa, questions how the ZUPCO buses will be subsided after the government reduced bus fares by half.
The slashing of bus fares comes as the government made another bold move, that is, liberalising fuel procurement.
The “hasty” decision to reduce ZUPCO bus fare is inevitable as the price of fuel is expected to rise.
Writing on microblogging site Twitter, Magaisa opined:
So the government has finally decided to “liberalise” fuel procurement, ditching the 1:1 fraud for the Interbank market rate. But there’s also a letter purportedly setting low fares for Zupco – effectively a subsidy. How that subsidy will be funded is not stated.
The government knows to ditch the 1:1 fraud will lead to price increases in fuel, transport fares (and other commodities) hence the Zupco subsidy. It’s designed to forestall protests. But how sustainable is this scheme in the long run? And what about other commodities?