By Own Correspondent- Government will not hesistate to take punitive action against unscrupulous businesses who are in the habit of wantonly increasing prices of basic commodities for the sole purpose of profiteering, a senior government official has warned.

Speaking to the state media recently, Industry and Commerce Minister Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu said the Government was feeling betrayed by the business community’s audacity to unnecessarily increase prices of commodities despite its efforts to create a conducive operating environment. 

This comes after the country has over the last two weeks witnessed an upsurge of price hikes.

Minister Ndlovu said the Second Republic led by President Mnangagwa has shied away from introducing price controls as part of its efforts of  minimising interference on the operations of the private sector.

“We have tried our best in avoiding interfering in the pricing system but we are realising that they (businesses) are not helping Government’s efforts in trying to revive this economy. 

“All we do is to create an environment for them (to operate) but I believe the same is not passed onto the consumer because the consumer is the hardest hit. Government has done a lot, if I can tell you the number of subsidies that we are giving the business community and the expectation being that they will keep their prices within reasonable limits, but what’s happening (price hikes) doesn’t make sense.

“Prices should not really be a reflection of the exchange rate. This is not a foreign exchange market we are talking about. 

“We are talking about our economy and we are busy subjecting our people to abuse on this basis . . . we have this mentality of wanting to import everything so we want to price our products on what we believe will be the rate when one is importing.

“A retailer by just going to buy from a wholesaler and stocking is making three times more profit than somebody who is actually paying rent in a factory and manufacturing, this is the ill-discipline that has crippled into our private sector and I challenged them when we met on Monday (last week) that they need to police themselves because when Government then comes in it might be viewed negatively but we would certainly stand with the people.

“I asked (business) people about why they were increasing prices, they told me about black market rates while people are selling 100 percent local products, so I don’t know if at all they are affected.”-State Media