President Emmerson Mnangagwa said that he was shocked by the recent price hikes by retailers and manufacturers. While addressing chiefs in Kadoma yesterday, Mnangagwa said that businesses cannot justify demanding foreign currency from consumers while they are not paying salaries in United States dollars. He said the prices only came down after he had ordered businesses to do so. Mnangagwa had this to say
We were surprised to wake up one morning to an outrageous increment of a 50kg back of maize seed from $30 to $100.
We are however surprised to see the same businesses charging their goods in US dollars when, as government, we are giving them forex. They must charge using our own currency, the bond notes.
When we met them those who had hiked their prices indicated that they had lowered.
We will continue engaging business people. We are appealing to their conscience, to be humane so that they will not burden the citizens.
I met with pharmacy owners and had to ask them if they are paying their workers in US dollars considering that they are charging in Trump’s currency.
They are not, so it’s not justified. After we told them that we were going to revoke their licences we saw them accepting bond note and Real Time Gross Settlements (RTGS).