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Zimbabwean gov't warns against company closures |
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21:05, July 17, 2007 |
Zimbabwean Vice President Joseph Msika has said the government will deal ruthlessly with retailers and manufacturers who try to frustrate its efforts to bring sanity in the retail market by withholding or stopping production of controlled goods, New Ziana reported on Tuesday.
Msika said this while officiating at the two-day Communal Areas Management Program for Indigenous Resources (Campfire) annual general meeting being held in Nyanga in the country''s east border resort on Monday.
"We are at war," he said. "We will not allow shelves to be empty. They have done it before. Now we will not allow it. We will do it in a manner that you will squeal. Let shelves be empty then you will squeal."
The government issued a directive last month for retailers and manufacturers to slash prices to levels prevailing as at June 18.
Most of the targeted goods in most retail outlets have, however, disappeared due to non-production by manufacturers, angry at the price controls.
Both retailers and manufacturers have denied responsibility for the shortages. Retailers on the one hand are accusing manufactures of not supplying, while manufactures on the other hand, are accusing retailers of not collecting or placing orders.
President Robert Mugabe recently told the nation that the government would nationalize all factories that stopped producing.
According to the state news agency, Msika, however, took a swipe at the prices and incomes stabilization taskforce for forcing some companies to reduce prices to levels before June 18, saying it was not within their mandate to do so.
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