BY NQOBANI NDLOVU/ RUTENDO MATANHIKE
Grain millers yesterday claimed their hands were tied on issues relating to the pricing of mealie-meal and could not reduce the prices as recently ordered by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
A 10kg bag of mealie meal now costs upwards of $95 after Finance minister Mthuli Ncube announced the removal of subsidies on maize meal and wheat while presenting his 2020 national budget statement last month.
The removal of the subsidy was supposed to take effect beginning January, but the announcement alone was enough for millers and retailers to immediately raise the price of mealie-meal.
A few days later, Mnangagwa told party supporters in Kadoma that the maize meal subsidy had been restored, claiming Ncube had not consulted him.
However, his announcement has not forced down the price of mealie-meal with the Grain Millers’ Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) spokesperson Garikai Chaunza yesterday saying the association could do little or nothing about the pricing of the commodity.
“In terms of pricing, we were gagged by the Competition and Tariff Commission (CTC). We were once engaged in a programme to monitor the price of mealie meal among other products. The CTC said according to the law, what we were doing was illegal,” Chaunza told NewsDay.
GMAZ’s self-regulation programme sought to stabilise prices of basic commodities, but the CTC argued that the programme was illegal.
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CTC argued that GMAZ’s programme violated the Competition Act (Chapter 14:28), which gives the commission the mandate to promote and maintain fair competition in all sectors of the economy.
Chaunza added: “As such, our hands are tied when it comes to the issue of pricing of the commodity. However, as GMAZ, we are holding an indaba today (yesterday) in Harare to deliberate on the pronouncement of subsidies, among other issues affecting the millers.”
Meanwhile, children benefitting from a GMAZ feeding scheme in the Cyclone Idai-hit Chimanimani district have pleaded for the programme’s extension because they are yet to recover from the disaster.
Presenting before GMAZ members in Harare yesterday, a teacher at one of the schools in the area, Ellen Mangashaya said the community was still feeling the effects of Cyclone Idai and required the association’s continued assistance.
“After Cyclone Idai, it was hard to see pupils come to school on empty stomachs. Those who managed to come to school could not concentrate. It was surely a hard time. In July, GMAZ came to our rescue through the feeding programme in selected schools, including Alban Primary School,” she said.
“Our schools came back to life as children enjoyed coming to school. There is now a great improvement in the attendance and performance of children. Now we beg GMAZ to continue supporting us because we are still in need as we are still recovering from effects of the cyclone.”
GMAZ committed $1 million towards the project, targeting primary school pupils with about 10 000 children benefitting.
Chaunza told journalists that there were plans to extend the programme.
