THE Government, working with other agencies has unleashed
monitors to track the movement and selling of subsided mealie-meal as concerns
grow over the continued channelling of the commodity to the black market.
It has also emerged that some retail shops, after receiving
subsided mealie meal, will instead of selling it to the public, use it to cook
isitshwala/sadza and sell to customers at their “restaurant” sections.
Sunday News discovered that some of the shops also work
with informal traders who get first preference and “loot” the commodity and
sell it on the streets and makeshift shops for cash.
The Government announced a mealie-meal subsidy to cushion
the general public, resulting in retailers being compelled to sell a 10
kilogramme bag at $50.
However, despite constant supply, the subsidised
mealie-meal is rarely found in most shops but is readily available on the black
market where it is sold for between $70 and $75 in cash only. In Bulawayo, the mealie-meal is readily
availed at the vegetable market area in the city centre.
The development has seen long queues in major retail shops
in the city centre on occasions when the subsidised mealie-meal is sold.
Both the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the
Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers confirmed yesterday that they were on the
ground and shops found on the wrong side of the law will be blacklisted.
“The Ministry of Industry and Commerce is also working
closely with the Confederation of Retailers Association of Zimbabwe and the
president, Mr (Denford) Mutashu has assured that in order to protect the
consumer they are monitoring the retail shops to ensure that mealie-meal is not
only available but is also sold at the subsidised price of $50 per 10kg and is
distributed to all Zimbabweans fairly,” Industry and Commerce Minister Dr Sekai
Nzenza said in a statement released to Sunday News. CZR president Mr Mutashu
said the association was visiting some of its members to see how they were
selling the commodity.
“We are working together with the ministry to monitor the
movement of mealie-meal, roller meal to be specific from the time it leaves the
miller up to the time the retailer receives it. So, we are working on a joint
programme where we also engage grain millers.
“Also, on our part basically what we will be doing we will
also visit some millers to check on accountability and also visit some of the
retailers and wholesalers to check on transparency, on how they are selling the
mealie meal to the public.
“We will also come up with a monitoring system by designing
a form that the miller will enter the quantities that they have dispatched.
They will indicate the store that the mealie-meal will be delivered to and the
store will also fill-up (a form) to confirm receipt of same quantities, just to
make sure we remove the blame game (between the two parties) that has been
going on before. We will know if there is side marketing of the product in a
locality. We can easily identify that it is either the retailer, wholesaler,
trader or it is the miller who has diverted the product but so far we are
basing our trust in ensuring that we are all in for the people to benefit out
of our actions and ensure fair distribution of the product across the country,”
he said.
Mr Mutashu said it has come to their attention that
management at a number of shops were deliberately diverting the mealie-meal to
the black market without shop owners’ consent.
“We have also identified that in some areas there were some
malpractices that do not involve the owner of the store but involved managers
who divert the product without the knowledge of the owner. For most of the formal
big chain stores it is very easy to check because they have in their system a
list of bags that they would have sold in their till just like the system that
Zimra (Zimbabwe Revenue Authority) has implemented in collecting revenue
through the fiscalisation device.
“So the store system can be used to pick the number of
bags, which could have gone through every till and from that end we can easily
go to a retailer, request a stock sheet that highlights the number of bags
received and sold and you can also be able to pick where the manager or store
has sold more than the expected quantity
to an individual trader or individual customer, so these are some of the issues
that we have discussed and agreed with the Minister, Dr Nzenza,” he said.
Mr Mutashu said any retailer and miller found liable to any
malpractice would be black-listed from receiving supplies.
“We have also agreed with the millers that a retailer who
will be found wanting will not receive the commodity. The retailer will be
black-listed while the millers have also confirmed to us that if a miller has
been found side marketing the product, that miller will also be black-listed
and will not receive the grain. These are some of the areas that we feel if we
work together as a country, we can be able to ensure that mealie-meal as a
subsidised product and key to food security gets to the people of Zimbabwe,” he
said.
Zimbabwe’s annual maize consumption stands at 1,8 million
tonnes and by October this year, the country needed 800 000 tonnes to cover a
gap in maize supplies until the next harvest.
In September last year the country took delivery of the first batch of
the 17 000 tonnes of the 100 000 tonnes of maize imported from Tanzania that
Government paid for as part of its efforts to alleviate food shortages brought
about by the drought.
However, there has been a critical shortage of mealie-meal
in the country with Government attributing it to failure by some companies to
deliver, leading to panic buying and hoarding.
“However, this has since been resolved as Government is
augmenting local production with maize grain imports. As of yesterday, the
Ministry verified with GMB (Grain Marketing Board) that maize grain is
available. The import deliveries have been coming on a daily basis and are
expected to alleviate the mealie-meal shortage,” said Dr Nzenza.
Independent consumer rights organisation, National Consumer
Rights Association (Nacora) advocacy advisor, Mr Effie Ncube said reports of
hoarding and over pricing of mealie-meal by some unscrupulous businesses was
tantamount to unethical business conduct, urging the Government to institute an
investigation and bring the perpetrators to book. Sunday News
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