Cement disappears

led that although there were long queues outside supermarkets, the story was different with hardware shops, where products were immediately removed from the shelves.
A source in the crack unit who spoke on condition of anonymity said one of the trucks laden with cement destined for an unknown destination was intercepted along the Victoria Falls Road last week.
“We are calling upon the police to check thoroughly all the trucks carrying goods, mainly cement and fertilizer and ascertain the origin and destination of the goods. Some of these commodities are being taken out of town – to farms because the crack units are not there. They cannot put them in warehouses in town because they will be caught,” said the official.
The Government wants the hardware shops to sell cement at $170 000 per 50kg bag instead of the old price of $1500 000.
The son of one of the politicians, who runs the accused hardware shop in town, denied the allegations, adding that there was nothing amiss taking place at the premises.
“Whoever told you that we are taking the cement to our farms is just telling lies and that person should go and show us at which farm we are hiding the cement. If there is anything like that, please inform us as well so that we can also go to those farms and get the cement, because we are also looking for it,” he said.
However, he went on to admit that there was cement in the hardware warehouse, which was not being sold, claiming that it was being reserved for “an ongoing project” he declined to disclose.
The chairman of the Cabinet Taskforce on Price Monitoring and Stabilisation, who is also the Minister of Industry and International Trade, Obert Mpofu on Friday referred all the questions to the police. – Natasha Hove