ZIMBABWEANS yesterday woke up to more retail shops charging
in US dollars, with government joining in the bandwagon, amid shortages of
basic commodities such as cooking oil and sugar.
The development comes as another wave of price increases on
basic commodities such as mealie-meal, rice, flour, salt, cooking oil, among
others, was imminent from today due to inflationary pressures as the economy
continuously nosedives.
Some retailers have even stopped putting price tags on
goods, as they continuously change on an hourly basis.
A survey by NewsDay in Harare, Bulawayo and other cities,
has shown that most people had now resorted to panic-buying as prices soar. Some of the prices have doubled or tripled compared to the
last few months.
Cooking oil was yesterday selling at around ZWL$25 per two
litre bottle compared to last week.
Addressing retailers in Bulawayo yesterday on commodity
prices, Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe chairman Tafadzwa Musarara said
mealie-meal prices would be reviewed upwards.
He, however, could not divulge the new prices, but NewsDay
understands that a 10kg bag of mealie-meal would go up from ZWL$11,85 to
ZWL$18.
“We are yet to increase (our prices). We are concluding the
discussions today (yesterday) and perhaps by end of today (yesterday), we will
all know the new prices of all our products,” Musarara said.
He said for some time, the margins for mealie-meal, rice
and salt had been 10% and in their case, it should be 10% plus 2% intermediary
tax plus 1% bank charges, while self-raising flour and sugar beans have been
20% inclusive of 2% and 1%.
“We are not pushing for a price control. You get from us at
different prices and you can mark up on those lines. We are simply saying from
the maximum price that we shall give you, the maximum you should mark up is
10%,” he said.
“Our current price now, which, of course is going to change
soon, is a maximum of ZWL$10,50 per roller meal for a 10kg bag. And, therefore,
if you put the 10% plus 2% plus 1%, we don’t expect the price to be more than
RTGS$11,85.”
Musarara said they could not commit to a certain price with
retailers, but on margins for what they make and for what they will make, and
they would deploy a monitoring team countrywide as from next week to make sure
that their recommended prices were being adhered to.
“We have agreed on the margins and we hope that prices
won’t change every week or every day,” he said.
“However, should they be so frequent, we have put
mechanisms that we should change those prices as frequent as necessary and
communicate to our colleagues.”
Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR) president Denford
Mutashu said retailers would not overcharge the consumers or profiteer on those
products that they have agreed on.
“For those retailers that are in rural areas, we are also
going to sit down and see if we can actually accommodate them in terms of
additional margins that will arise out of the additional costs that they incur
in the event that the millers are not transporting products to their
doorsteps,” he said.
Consumer Council of Zimbabwe national chairman Phillip
Bvumbe hoped that the exercise would be duplicated as far as other products are
concerned.
CZR board chairman Zak Hawa said retailers were being
affected by pricing, whereby suppliers were charging their goods and services
in US dollars.
“We are concerned about the issue of prices which come
through from our suppliers, manufacturers and these are problems for us. The
price increases come forward on a regular basis. It sometimes nullifies the
margins that you have worked on,” he said.
This comes as the State, which has been anticipating
massive demonstrations against the President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government
over the worsening economic situation, was sold a dummy yesterday over the
national shutdown.
In Harare, police maintained a presence in hot-spot areas,
seemingly to detect and quell any protests which, however, never happened.
Vendors, who on many occasions clash with law enforcers,
yesterday said they were not worried about the prevailing situation.
“We are doing our business as usual. There are no
demonstrations and people are going about their chores like any other day. To
us, what might cause alarm is the presence of police details both uniformed and
ununiformed making their patrols. Obviously, our customers might have a problem
with that. They will think something is wrong and they might not want to be
caught up in crossfire,” one vendor, who plies her trade along Julius Nyerere
Way, said.
People were seen standing in long queues waiting for Zupco
buses to ferry them to their different locations.
In Bulawayo, police maintained a heavy presence around the
city amid attempts to block Luveve Road by unknown people, who burnt tyres.
However, people went on with their usual business.
Some vendors, who used Luveve Road early in the morning,
confirmed the temporary closure of the road by suspected protesters, whom they
said were immediately dispersed by police.
“I saw tyres burning on one side of Luveve Road near Happy
Valley Centre, situated close to Mzilikazi suburb. The road was also blocked
with stones and vehicles were made to negotiate the blocked road in order to
find their way into the city,’’ a vendor said.
However, Bulawayo police spokesperson, Inspector Abednico
Ncube dismissed the reports that protesters had started blocking roads, saying
the situation was peaceful in the city
“I have made an inquiry from Mzilikazi Police Station and I
have been told that everything is normal, there is peace. Police presence means
that they are doing their duties,” he said.
This comes at a time the State is cracking down on human
rights activists and civil society leaders following phony messages circulating
on social media platforms priming citizens to brace for protests.
Some were arrested on their way from a workshop in Maldives
and have been arraigned before the courts.
The State media has been awash with threats against
anticipated protests for some time now.
In January this year, Mnangagwa was forced to abandon his
trip in Eastern Europe following nationwide demonstrations against the rise of
fuel and the general rise in the cost of living.
Civil servants are expected to press the government with a
new set of demands next week, claiming their earnings have been eroded to
unsustainable levels. Newsday
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