Subsidies on maize-meal and rice are being restored to
ensure citizens have access to cheaper basic foodstuffs and cushion them
against the obtaining economic challenges, President Mnangagwa has said.
Addressing youths at the 2019 National Youth Convention
here yesterday, the President said maize-meal and rice were basic commodities
and removing the subsidy would affect many people.
“I want to say there are challenges that we are facing as a
result of the austerity measures that we have already announced that we have
eased in the (2020) Budget because we have achieved what we wanted,” he said.
“We are now focusing on production, employment creation and
youth empowerment. We must create safety nets to help our people. Two days ago I
heard that the subsidy on mealie-meal and rice was removed. No.
“I want to say this here, the issue of mealie-meal affects
a lot of people and we cannot remove the subsidy. So I am restoring it so that
the price of mealie-meal is also reduced. They are going to publish tomorrow
that what we had done, we had not consulted the President.”
He said basic goods must be cheap so that everyone can
afford them.
“We have a cheap food policy that we are creating to ensure
that basic foods are affordable,” he said.
In his 2020 National Budget, Finance and Economic
Development Minister Mthuli Ncube said subsidies on roller meal, standard
loaves of bread and cooking oil would remain.
But he was moving from the more general subsidy of offering
manufacturers cheap foreign exchange, which distorted markets and saw products
used by the rich being subsidised as well as those used by most people, to
direct subsidies on the most critical products paid to manufacturers.
On the introduction of the local currency, President
Mnangagwa said no country in the world would succeed without its currency.
He said the basket of currencies introduced in 2009 was
only meant to stabilise the economy and time had come for the local currency to
take root.
President Mnangagwa said a law was being crafted to deal
with businesspeople who continue to demand payments in foreign currency.
Turning to the Zanu-PF restructuring exercise, the President
said there should be no imposition of candidates.
He said people were free to elect leaders committed to work
for them and the party.
President Mnangagwa also said Zimbabwe was keen to work
with all countries of the world willing to do business with Harare.
“We are saying there is no country that we have wronged but
we know the countries that have wronged us.
“There are those that have imposed sanctions on us for
redistributing our land. Whether they like it or not, the land reform programme
is irreversible,” said President Mnangagwa.
He also took the opportunity to address the issue of
Exclusive Prospecting Orders (EPOs) that was raised by youths in mining. The President said he would sit down with Mines and Mining
Development Minister Winston Chitando to see if they were still relevant.
On the issue of a gold rush at David Whitehead in Chegutu,
the President said youths should organise themselves into groups to do mining
activities.
Speaking at the same event, Zanu-PF secretary for Youth
Affairs Cde Pupurai Togarepi said most provincial mining directors were corrupt
and working against the upliftment of youths.
He said youths were happy with the decision taken by the
Government to fire doctors who refused to go back to work after a court ruling
declaring their strike illegal.
The youth convention was attended by thousands of young
people, youth organisations, Zanu-PF Politburo and Central Committee members.
Herald
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