Mthuli Cracks Down On Grocery Shops 
30 May 2023
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By- Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube is cracking down on retail outlets and businesses working with illegal money changers.

Mthuli said his targets were responsible for fuelling price increases. 

He said the government would blacklist and fine companies and withdraw licences if necessary. 

During an impromptu tour of Bulawayo’s central business district, Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube, expressed concern over rising living costs and “unjustifiable” price hikes of basic commodities.

He accused big businesses and retailers of collaborating with illegal money changers and called for ethical business practices to be reinstated. Addressing a manager at a Supermarket located on Fort Street, Prof Ncube said:

We want to send a message to your bosses. We are saying that they must stop these price hikes, which are totally unjustifiable. I am saying this because the next time we ask you to close and withdraw your licence, you will be out of a job and so will a lot of other people. Then the Government will be blamed for shutting down businesses when this is the only way because their behaviour is not proper.

Have you heard of the word schadenfreude? It is a German word that means taking delight from the misery of others. In English, they call it epicaricacy. That is what you’re practising. It is not good.

In an interview with The Sunday Mail after the tour, the Minister stated that the government will soon clamp down on businesses that work with illegal money changers.

Ncube expressed concern over the rising cost of living and unjustifiable price increases, blaming big businesses and retailers for conniving with foreign currency traders.

The Minister warned that any shop refusing domestic currency and only accepting US dollars would have its license withdrawn.