Industry must justify price hikes

GOVERNMENT’S intended meeting with stakeholders in its efforts to probe illegal price hikes effected by retailers last week should be held with urgency.

We hope after such a meeting, Government will be equipped enough to come up with appropriate measures to deal with the illegality.

Industry and retailers should be aware that hiking prices unilaterally is not the way business should be done. It is an act bordering on profiteering, which does not augur well with economic recovery efforts.

Within a few days, major retailers had moved stock that they could have sold in weeks because of the panic buying that was triggered by the price hikes. A situation where industry and retailers imposed price hikes without any hint of a threat to their businesses is not acceptable.

In fact, our industrialists and retailers should be alert to the fact that they can be used as agents of illegal regime change.

This is because hiking prices without any justification will always lead to chaos and put the image of the ruling party Zanu-PF and Government into disrepute.

When such uncalled for price increases occur, people will not take the blame to the retailers, they will always think there is something that Government has not done right.

Yet, all the fundamentals in the country do not point to a need for such a ghastly act like the sudden rise of prices.

It is important that Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa has pointed out the need for dialogue with the retailers.

That dialogue should go to the bottom of the issue. If there was a genuine problem that the retailers faced, let them say it so that Government can find means to address it.

If it turns out that the retailers have no compelling case in effecting the price hikes, then the noble thing to do is to revert to the old prices.

It will not be in line with the aspirations of the nation to bring back price controls and the retailers are fully aware of the consequences.

They will be the first to cry foul if Government moves in that direction, so they must not force authorities to think along those lines. At the same time, Government cannot stand and watch forever as the retailers continue to unilaterally increase prices. The natural move is for Government to protect the consumers.

This will lead to the consideration of different options, including looking at bringing back price controls.

Minister Chinamasa has extended an olive branch to industry and retailers and we hope that they will also reciprocate to avoid unnecessary measures being taken.

The unilateral price hikes came as a surprise, especially after Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr John Mangudya revealed that forex was being extended to industry for critical goods.

This led to a lot of questions being asked on the motive of increasing the prices, which appeared to be simply mischievous.

President Mugabe has since assured the nation that Government will look into the artificial shortage of some basic goods and the arbitrary price hikes by some shops and dealers.

We agree with President Mugabe that there might be saboteurs out to frustrate Government efforts at economic recovery.

And like pointed above, these could be working with the West to cause an illegal regime change. It is important that Government has seen through these shenanigans and is working to correct the situation and stabilise the market.

The major tool used in promoting panic buying and the price hikes was the social media.

Something should be done about social media and we are glad that very soon the Computer Crime and Cyber Bill will address some the issues in relation to that field.