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Zimbabwe's wealthy panic over gasoline, food shortages worsen
Associated Press
July 20, 2007

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/20/africa/AF-GEN-Zimbabwe-Price-Crackdown.php

Harare - Long, chaotic lines of vehicles built up Friday at the few gas stations still supplying fuel after the government banned a hard-currency coupon gas purchasing system used by well-to-do Zimbabweans. In desperate efforts to curb rampant inflation, the government on June 26 ordered price cuts of around 50 percent on all goods and services. The measure has left empty shelves, closed some businesses and prompted warnings that the southern African nation is on the brink of collapse. The worsening gasoline shortages caused panic among drivers Friday who had bought coupons entitling them to gas with hard currency. Gas stations were rationing fuel to the coupon holders following an announcement Thursday by Industry Minister Obert Mpofu that coupons will be invalid after Aug. 1. The hard currency coupon system had been legalized in 2000 when severe fuel shortages began.

The government-ordered price cuts brought gasoline down to less than half what it costs to import it. Regular supplies dried up, crippling commuter transport and closing stores and shops that use gas-driven generators during the nation's regular daily power outages. State radio on Friday reported more business leaders had been arrested for allegedly failing to cut prices. Three directors, including high-profile businessmen from the biggest store chain, were jailed Wednesday. The directors of stock exchange blue chip Meikles Africa, owners of about 70 supermarkets, department stores, hotels and other businesses across the country, were accused of selling clothing and cosmetics above the stipulated government price. Two executives of a leading chicken breeder also were jailed and another chicken farm was ordered to resume full operation. The farm had shut down some pens, saying it ran short of chicken feed.

At least 3,000 businesses have been fined for overcharging in the prices clampdown. Many of their executives and managers have been briefly held in filthy police cells, given a single lice-ridden blanket against near-freezing temperatures at night. Chicken, meat, cornmeal, bread, eggs, milk and other staples have disappeared from the shelves since the price cuts were announced. Shoppers swarm into stores when small deliveries arrive. Canned and other foodstuffs have largely sold out. "I've been around three supermarkets hunting for things. Look, I've managed to find coffee," said Marjory Wessels, a housewife from the central town of Gweru, 200 kilometers (160 miles) from Harare. She said she caught a ride to Harare with friends to stock up on basics. Whole sections of stores in Gweru were empty or shut down, she said.

Private pharmacies began running out of imported life-sustaining drugs, including medicines for those carrying the AIDS virus and diabetics, shop owners said. A government hospital in the northern resort of Kariba had no painkillers for a car accident victim, offering him only aspirin, said a business associate who hired a medical air rescue service to bring him to a private clinic in Harare. Fixed and mobile phone services veered closer to collapse Friday, with call connections needing numerous attempts and often cutting off after a few seconds. Econet, the biggest mobile network, said power outages and gasoline shortages for its generators affected its relay stations, along with congestion after charges were reduced and as shoppers call each other with alerts on what is available in stores. Official inflation is given as 4,500 percent, the highest in the world, but private financial institutions estimate it at closer to 9,000 percent.

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