Gweru man killed over loaf of bread as food shortages intensify
By Tererai Karimakwenda
03 August, 2007

The state’s paper The Herald reported this Thursday that a man, believed to have been an illegal gold panner, was killed in a scuffle over a loaf of bread on the outskirts of Gweru. He had bought the loaf on credit from a woman running a small shop and when he failed to pay on time her husband and 4 other men confronted him. A scuffle broke out and the man was injured and died later that night.

The critical shortage of basic goods that is the result of the government’s ongoing price control exercise has driven prices up drastically on the black market and it has also taken its toll on human relations and daily life. People compete for scarce resources and even members of the ruling party’s elite are reported to be fighting among themselves over how to proceed with the price controls. Headlines in the state controlled media reveal the extent of the suffering and the scarcity of basic items- “Man killed in scuffle about bread”, “Crisis turns hearses into buses” and “Businessmen sentenced to clean government buildings”.

The Herald reported Thursday that six businessmen who were arrested during the price blitz were sentenced to 105 hours community service. They were sentenced to cleaning government buildings by the Magistrate Olivia Mariga. But this attempt to embarrass them does not put any food on the empty shelves in the shops or provide transport for the workers who are walking many miles every day. Our Bulawayo contact Zenzele said people are waking up early to go stand in queues for food all day. He told us there is no mealie-meal, sugar, cooking oil and other basic items. Very few bakeries are baking bread and the queues are very long.

Also on Thursday, reports on state radio said funeral parlours were using their hearses as buses, due to the shortage of fuel that has taken commuter omnibuses out of service. According to the report police in Bulawayo described the move by the funeral parlours as a "public service." The drivers of the hearses were picking up people along their routes in order to make some money. Zenzele said minibuses were being fined Z$1 million per passenger if they were caught charging more than the stipulated price of Z$25,000. This would mean a total fine of Z$18 million for a loaded minibus with 18 passengers.
In other news, the IRIN news service reports that the lifestyle normally associated with an urban society is fast disappearing from the capital, Harare. Residents in what was once Zimbabwe’s “Sunshine City” now live like rural folk, without power or running water and with virtually no food in the shops. The use of candles at night and firewood for cooking was once only for rural areas. Zenzele said the power cuts in Bulawayo are bad these days. They can last for days at a time. He agreed with reports that said those in rural areas were better off these days.

Stories about Zimbabweans fighting over scarce resources while the elite benefit from the crisis now dominate the headlines. Critics say the price blitz, like the farm invasions, is just another looting exercise for a government that has failed and has no idea what it is doing.