Reduce Foodstuffs’ Prices, Zimbabwe’s First Lady Begs Retailers

The First Lady of Zimbabwe, Auxillia Mnangagwa, has begged manufacturers and retailers to reduce the prices of foodstuffs.

Reducing the pricing model, she said, would assist in taking into account the poor’s right to food security.

Zimbabwe’s Herald reports that most people have been priced out of conventional shops as a result of relentless price increases and are now having to make do with tuckshops, which demand cash, though their prices are relatively lower.

Speaking at the fifth annual national retailers and wholesalers awards organised by the Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers in Harare, Mnangagwa described the retail sector as integral to the growth and development of the economy as it sits at the tail end of the value chain.

She acknowledged that Zimbabwe’s previously male-dominated retail space now has an increased number of successful women entrepreneurs.

“The country has faced numerous transitional economic challenges like price instability, prices increase especially of basic commodities, manufacturing sector capacity utilisation decline (according to CZI) from average 45 per cent to the current average of 35 per cent.

“As a mother, it is my sincere hope that with current economic reforms to turn around our economy, 2020 becomes a better year for all of us,” she said.

She said manufacturers and retailers should increase production and distribution of basic goods to all corners of the country at affordable prices, especially commodities that the government had subsidised like maize-meal.