President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Wednesday ordered Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube to restore the subsidy on mealie meal.
The President instructed Ncube to reverse the scrapping of the subsidy while addressing youths at the 2019 National Youth Convention at Rimuka Stadium in Kadoma. He said:
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.
During the 2020 national budget presentation, Ncube announced that subsidies on mealie meal and flour would be removed.
The move, however, triggered a sharp increase in the price of the commodities, with the price of mealie meal going up by close to 100 per cent.