July 2003

- Remi Blondet

'Coffin cars' beat fuel queues

22 July 2003: Two Zimbabwean mortuary workers have been arrested for renting out corpses to motorists so they could take advantage of special fuel preferences given to hearses.

The two are accused of selling fake burial orders to motorists who then took the corpses in their cars to service stations, where they could jump long queues to fill their tanks. The bodies were then returned to the mortuary, possibly to be 'recycled' to other motorists.

Zimbabwe used to barter 70 per cent of its fuel needs with Libya, but that deal has collapsed, leaving the country with a serious fuel shortage.

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