Residents demonstrate against Cover Supermarket
Hundreds of residents in Filabusi last week marched and protested and threatened to burn down Cover Supermarket after the retail shop demanded payment of all its goods in the United States dollars.
Further, those with bond notes were ordered to pay in high prices.
Cover Supermarket is the only large retailer with a variety of goods and is enjoying monopoly at Filabusi Centre.
When Sunday News went to the centre last week, all prices were pegged in US dollars and upon payment at the till, customers paying in bond notes and those using mobile money transfers were forced to pay more than the pegged price.
In an interview, a till operator at the supermarket said: “That was a decision by management since everything is now expensive and bond notes are losing value. The management is afraid that overnight bond notes may be wiped out by inflation. The US dollar is equivalent to R15 and $5 Bond note.”
Just a snap survey on basic commodities indicated that a 2-litre bottle of cooking oil was pegged at US$3 that is $15 in bond notes, a 10kg bag of mealie-meal was pegged at US$2 ($10 bond notes).
2kg powdered milk was pegged at US$3 ($15 bond notes) while a 2kg packet of sugar was US$1,50 ($7,50). A bar of green soap was pegged at US$0,75 ($3,75).
When the supermarket manager, Mr Zile Tshuma learnt that the news crew visited the shop, he immediately closed the shop and barred customers from entering.
“There is no price madness here, people don’t understand how the economy is operating. I am organising workers to print out price tags in bond notes right now. However, US dollar pegs are going to remain there.”
“If we put prices in bond notes they end up panicking and assume we are overcharging. Prices in US dollars are friendly and customers will come. Customers simply multiply the pegged price by five,” he said.
Mr Tshuma said they were charging in US dollars because the manufacturers were only accepting foreign currency.
However, local manufacturers have maintained that they are not charging in US dollars.
Mr Tshuma showed the news crew an invoice written Membar Investments where they bought cooking oil pegged at $3,25 per 2l bottle.
It did not indicate whether they paid in US dollars.
Disgruntled customers chanted slogans slamming the “price madness”.
Mrs Nomsa Dube who was among the protestors said: “This is daylight robbery, where do we get foreign currency? They did not specify that prices are in US$ and they just told me at the till.”
Another protestor said the owner of the supermarket was taking advantage of being the only notable retail shop at the centre.
“If the US$ was in circulation then we would accept this price pegging. Now when you go to the bank you are given bond notes so where do they expect us to get foreign currency,” he said.
Management at the shop is also allegedly taking advantage of gold miners in the area who sometimes receive payment in US$.
A fuel station within the centre was charging in US dollars and Rands only.
The Government and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has slammed some businesses for taking advantage of the situation to unilaterally hike prices of most goods. Sunday News.
