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A FUEL tanker driver has been shot dead by a security guard after he was allegedly found decanting fuel collected from TAZAMA’s Lusaka depot in the Heavy Industrial Area.
And the man who shot Mr Obby Muzyamba is fighting for his life in the University Teaching Hospital after being attacked by an instant justice mob along Muzilikazi Road near Matero township on Tuesday around 16 hours.
Meanwhile, tank drivers from different Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have refused to load petroleum products from the TAZAMA depot in protest at the shooting of their colleague.
Mr Muzyamba, 35, a Zambian tanker driver working for the Tanzanian oil company Lake Oil, was shot dead by a private security man believed to have been sent to monitor the activities of the company’s drivers after Mr Muzyamba was allegedly caught decanting fuel which he had collected from the depot.
Lusaka Police Commissioner Charity Katanga, who confirmed the incident, explained that Mr Muzyamba was allegedly found decanting fuel from his truck by the owners of the Oil Marketing Company from Tanzania.
Ms Katanga said the security guard identified as a Mr Nyirenda was in the company of the owners of the OMC when he shot Mr Muzyamba, killing him instantly after he allegedly attempted to escape.
“Mr Muzyamba was shot using a Pump Action Shotgun after allegedly being found decanting fuel from a Volvo truck registration No. ACV 1247, trailer No. ACZ 3699T,” she said.
Ms Katanga said Mr Nyirenda was then attacked by an angry mob who beat and injured him seriously and is currently battling for his life in the UTH.
“Police officers recovered a shotgun and shells from the scene along Muzilikazi road in Matero area. The security guard is unconscious at UTH,” said the police chief.
She explained that the body of Mr Muzyamba was lying in the mortuary at UTH and would today be taken to Namwala for burial today after a post-mortem has been conducted.
Ms Katanga said investigations have since been instituted following different reports that have been reaching the police with regards to circumstances that led to the death of Mr Muzyamba.
And a check by the Daily Nation at TAZAMA depot yesterday found empty trucks parked outside the depot waiting for Government officials to address the matter. The tanker rivers, who have vowed not to load fuel until Minister of Energy Dora Siliya addresses them, have expressed fear that their lives were in danger after the shooting of their colleague. One of the drivers, Mr Samson Kangwa, 33, said drivers had resolved not to load their trucks until the minister addressed them.
But TAZAMA Lusaka depot manager Victor Kanuka said he had not received notification from the OMCs drivers that they would not load fuel.
He said TAZAMA was ready to offload the fuel which it had received from the importers to all the Oil Marketing Companies.
Mr Kanuka said he could not comment on the driver who was shot dead because the issue had nothing to do with TAZAMA as the deceased was shot outside TAZAMA premises.
But a source at TAZAMA said the problem arose after OMCs decided to send their own security officers to spy on their drivers for fear of illegal decanting fuel.
“The problem is that OMCs do not trust their drivers, they think that the drivers steal the fuel by decanting from trucks in hidden places. So they have started sending unknown people to spy and monitor movements of their own drivers,” the source said.
The source added that Obby was shot after he allegedly diverted the truck on a different route which was not known to his employers.
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