Zimbabweans grapple with high commodity prices weeks after Mugabe military ouster
By Staff Reporter
HARARE residents are shocked at the instant increase of commodity prices in most South African-owned chain stores, days after military personnel who orchestrated the resignation of long-term president Robert Mugabe after a 37-year hold on state power withdrew from the Zimbabwean capital’s streets.
On Thursday, Mugabe’s successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa crossed the Limpopo River into South Africa and made a call to Zimbabwean economic migrants in that country to return home and rebuild the country’s economy following 93-year-old Mugabe’s unceremonious ouster last month.
Back home in Zimbabwe, residents jostling to buy commodities in readiness for the festive season were shocked to witness a general increase in most basic commodities in some of the South African-owned and managed supermarkets and shopping malls.
“Imagine!” one Harare resident who had taken part in the anti-Mugabe protests and celebrations that accompanied his ouster, told News Day Zambia from the Zimbabwean capital yesterday. “Cooking oil has moved from US$3.15 to US$4. The price of rice has increased from US$2.15 to US$2.75 and bath foam from 615 cents to 960 cents.”
The source said the much-sought-after commodity during the festive season, chicken is now fetching at US$17.29 in one of the Pick N Pay outlets in Harare, for example.
“A crate of egg has moved from US$5 to US$3.45,” the consumer complained.
With 94 per cent unemployment levels in Zimbabwe, President Mnangagwa’s first point of call has been to improve the economic situation and create more jobs.
