Tendai Ruben Mbofana The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) recently released its petroleum price schedule for 17 April 2026, and the figures demand a level of scrutiny that goes far beyond a cursory glance at the pump. If you value my social justice advocacy and writing, please consider a financial contribution to keep it going. Contact me on WhatsApp: +263 715 667 700 or Email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com While the official narrative suggests that Petrol Blend (E20) at $2.08 is a measure designed to “cushion” the public, the cold, hard mathematics of the price build-up reveal a staggering deception.

When we strip away the mandatory blending requirements and look at the raw costs, the truth is laid bare: pure unleaded petrol is significantly cheaper than the blend we are forced to buy. By the government’s own data, if the blending mandate were dropped tomorrow, pure unleaded petrol would retail for approximately $1.92 per litre—a full 16 cents cheaper than the current E20 blend. To prove this point, we must look at the “Fuel Cost” component in the ZERA schedule.

For E20, the cost of the fuel itself—comprising 80 percent imported petrol and 20 percent local ethanol—is listed at $1.0927 per litre. This is an engineered price that hides an economic paradox. The Free On Board (FOB) price for refined petrol at the port of Beira is roughly $1.09 per litre.

However, the domestic ethanol used to “dilute” this petrol is mandated at $1.10 per litre. In any rational economy, a dilutant should be cheaper than the primary product. In Zimbabwe, the additive is more expensive than the fuel.

If the country simply imported pure unleaded petrol (E0) and removed the ethanol component entirely, the base fuel cost would drop to $1.0900. When you apply the standard tax stack, levies, and distribution margins to this lower base, the pump price for pure petrol naturally settles at $1.92. The government is effectively charging motorists a 16-cent premium per litre just to include a product that isn’t needed and costs more to produce.

The deception deepens when we move from the price at the pump to the cost of the journey. Thermodynamics and chemistry do not bend to regulatory notices. It is a scientific reality that ethanol contains approximately 34 percent less energy by volume than pure petrol.

At a 20 percent blending level, the overall energy density of the fuel is reduced by roughly 8 percent. This is the “efficiency penalty” that every Zimbabwean motorist pays in silence. To travel the exact same distance that one litre of pure unleaded petrol would cover, a car must burn approximately 1.075 litres of E20.

This means the $2.08 price tag is an optical illusion. When you account for the extra fuel required to make up for the lack of energy, the “true work cost” of E20—the cost to actually move your car—is effectively $2.24 per litre. The comparison is devastating.

On one hand, we have pure unleaded petrol, which would cost $1.92 at the pump and provide maximum mileage. On the other hand, we have the mandated E20 blend, which costs $2.08 at the pump but effectively costs $2.24 when adjusted for its poor performance. The Zimbabwean public is being fleeced of 32 cents for every “effective litre” used.

This is a massive wealth transfer from the pockets of commuters, farmers, and business owners into the hands of a protected domestic ethanol monopoly. The argument that blending saves foreign currency is exposed as a fallacy when the domestic product is priced higher than the imported one and requires a higher volume of consumption to perform the same task. Why is the choice of unblended petrol denied to the public?

If the authorities were confident in the benefits of E20, they would allow it to compete on equal footing with unleaded petrol at the service station. They do not because they know that no rational consumer would choose a fuel that is 16 cents more expensive at the pump and 32 cents more expensive in practice. The mandate is not a policy of national interest; it is a policy of captive markets.

By making pure petrol illegal for general sale, the state ensures that a private entity has a guaranteed revenue stream, regardless of how inefficient or overpriced their product becomes. This is a circular tax that siphons money from the public, increases the cost of logistics, and drives up the price of every basic commodity in the country. Furthermore, the price build-up reveals an over-taxed energy sector where nearly 85 cents of every dollar goes to the state and its various agencies.

When these heavy taxes are layered onto an artificially inflated base price, the result is a cost-of-living crisis that is entirely avoidable. Fuel is the lifeblood of production. By forcing a more expensive and less efficient blend on the public, the government is deliberately sabotaging the nation’s economic competitiveness. Every time a delivery truck covers a route or a worker commutes to a factory, they are paying an “ethanol ta