EDITORIAL COMMENT: Time to act, protect consumers

THE situation on the market is disturbing. For lack of a better word, it verges on the treasonous! It seems another season of madness is upon us.

Some people have been buying every basic food item in bulk since Friday last week. The buying frenzy was triggered by a pessimistic social media message claiming that a shortage of basic commodities like cooking oil was looming. Without even verifying the veracity of the message, some gullible consumers started thronging supermarkets and stockpiling basic commodities.

A Press statement by industry yesterday allaying fears of food shortages was by and large ignored. Some retailers have hiked prices of basic commodities willy-nilly. Others demand payment in cash or American dollars. And all this in a space of three days! In 72 hours urbanites have been thrown into disarray by an irresponsible social media message!

Of course, the alarmist who posted the message has scored big in the confusion that has ensued. The question remains: Are we such a gullible citizenry ready to be led by the nose by any mischief maker? Why are we always reactive and not proactive? It appears this knee jerk behaviour has extended to service stations where fuel queues quickly emerged as motorists jostled for bulk purchases of petrol or diesel. Is this really called for?

The statement by industry must expose the evil hand behind this panic on the market. If manufacturers of basic commodities have not increased prices and are supplying enough to meet demand, why is the market upside down? Someone must explain this insanity.

The essence of yesterday’s statement by industry was that retailers have gone nuts. In other words, industry is saying retailers woke up and decided to increase food prices with no iota of justification on the basis of message circulating on social media claiming there would be acute shortages of basic commodities and jumped onto it to rip off consumers! Retailers must explain to the nation what is happening. Are they hoarding what is supplied to them by manufacturers? To what end? The nation demands an explanation.

We are happy that President Mugabe yesterday vowed to look into this artificially generated crisis and deal with it once and for all. Also elements behind this hoax must be exposed for who they are: saboteurs preying on people’s fears of what happened in 2008 to hike prices. We cannot be a nation where every Tom and Jerry can play tricks with people’s hard earned money.

While we await an explanation from the retailers, we hope this drama is not intended for next year’s harmonised elections. There has been a tendency by some to hanker for chaos whenever national elections are pending.

Such political machinations have harvested thorns in the past and shall forever earn no one benefits besides traumatising ordinary Zimbabweans, who, after nearly two decades of sanction-induced economic hardships, have remained steadfast. As we prepare for harmonised elections next year, we need to remind all political players that football is won on the pitch and not on the stands. Take your message to the electorate; do not suffocate them to vote for you.

That said, we urge authorities to take action against banks that deny depositors their hard earned money while feeding the illegal market. This is an act of sabotage that must be dealt with in the harshest manner to deter others. It has become common for some heartless Zimbabweans to post pictures on social media with piles of cash. They do not hide their identities and it appears no one cares to ask them where they get the money when we know banks have imposed daily cash withdrawal limits.

In fact, some banks have gone for months without giving anyone a cent when they require it. Yes, we have adopted plastic money, but that does not mean plastic money for some and abundant cash for others. Let all animals be equal, lest we become an animal farm.

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