We are our own worst enemies
IHAVE a question that needs an honest answer. Do we, as Zimbabweans, want our country to succeed? Early this year, having been unable to get cooking oil from supermarkets, I decided to visit downtown Harare. After all, this is where most of us get basic commodities.
And as expected, the place did not disappoint. Shops were brimful with all basic goods one could need.
There was, however, one significant difference — most of the goods were locally made.
It seemed as though the supply chain had been diverted from big supermarkets to the small downtown shops, where the two-tier pricing system (strictly cash, either bond notes or United States dollars) with the exchange rate based on the parallel market rate.
I also noticed that the few scarce basic commodities that are trickling into supermarkets are also finding their way to street corners, where they are being sold at prices equivalent to those charged at downtown shops.
Those with time to queue or have inside information as to where and when the scarce commodities would be delivered are actually making a killing without giving a second thought to what this means for the country and our future as a people.
The disturbing thing about all this is that locally manufactured basic goods that were in short supply on the formal market are in abundance on the parallel market.
This is, of course, with hindsight after the utterances by the manufacturing industry that it has not scaled down on production.
Where then are basic goods they are manufacturing going to? Where are the commodities on the parallel markets coming from? Is it the manufacturers, wholesalers or retailers that are diverting these products? Could they be the same basic goods that are being held for speculative purposes and are now being disposed of for cash, so as to evade a new law being drafted to deal with unexplained wealth and deposits?
The long and short of it is that, as Zimbabweans, we cause our own suffering. If all those goods on the parallel market are channelled to the formal market, shortages will soon be a thing of the past.
However, contrary to President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s call for Zimbabweans to unite in building the country’s economy, at the time, we seem to have united in achieving the opposite — from manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers who are supplying the parallel market, shop owners who are charging exorbitant prices and to consumers hoarding commodities for resale, exacerbating the shortages and eroded people’s disposable income.