Companies face closure due to government harassment

By Tererai Karimakwenda
20 October 2006

The majority of supermarket managers who were arrested in Bulawayo on Tuesday and Wednesday appeared in court on Thursday and were released on Z$ 30,000 bail each. Bulawayo businessman Eddie Cross said they are being accused of flouting price control regulations. But a small number of the arrested are still in police custody and it is not clear what charges they face. The arrests came just weeks after senior managers in the private sector were detained in a similar action over prices. Cross said many people were angered by this and businesses will be forced to go underground or simply shut down if the government continues to harass and intimidate them.

Managers from large chains including TM, OK, Macro, Trade-all and Jaggers were detained by police beginning Tuesday after suspected CIO agents went around Bulawayo looking for illegal activity. Pointing out situations that were not violations of any code, the agents refused to accept any explanations however valid. Cross said there was no legal basis for the arrests. Some of the released managers told him the agents claimed they were acting on a higher authority and they had held discussions with the Ministry of Commerce.

One of those released was not even a manager but is the owner of a small tuck shop. The arresting agents said they were detaining him for violating regulations that had been published in a government gazette last Friday. The tuck shop owner visited the government printers to check out what had been published and discovered there was no record of new regulations entered on that day.

Cross said the problem is that the government is trying to force businesses to reduce prices. But the forces driving up inflation are massive and businesses need to make enough money to replace their stock and to operate. He believes harassment and political intimidation are not the solution.