Staff Reporter
Government has committed to continue dealing with the menace of unjustified price hikes and has established a hotline to receive complaints from consumers in order to mitigate against unfair trading practices in the market.
Addressing the media after the 14th Post Cabinet media briefing yesterday, the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Senator Monica Mutsvangwa said that Government was aware of some businesses that were refusing to accept the local currency for transactions and added that appropriate measures would be taken against such ill business practices.
“In an endeavour to address the challenges cited in this update, the nation is being assured that the Quality Assurance and Trade Measures Department in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce is conducting an enforcement blitz on the quality and measurements of basic commodities and issuing appropriate fines.
“The Consumer Protection Commission is creating a hotline that will receive and respond to complaints from consumers to mitigate against unfair trading practices in the market.
Government is increasing the enforcement against the collusion on pricing by the Competition and Tariff Commission so that they quickly address the unfair business practices which have become rampant in the economy,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.
The Minister added that Government was continuing with promotion of local industry, quality, standards, and competitiveness, while endeavouring to protect consumers from unfair trade practices. She added that local manufacturing sector had shown a positive trajectory with capacity utilization currently at 66%, up from 36% before COVID-19 and shelf occupancy at 80%,up from 47% before COVID-19.
Speaking at the same post Cabinet media briefing, the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube reminded retailers that the Zimbabwe dollar was a legal tender and that it was illegal for anyone to reject it as a means of settling a transaction.
Minister Ncube warned that Government would soon descend heavily on all businesses that were not adhering to the principles of fair and ethical business practices
