“Police manning food queues are corrupt”-Mutare residents (17-07-07)

are getting all the goods on sale that have had prices reduced by half to June 18, 2007 levels.

The police and army officers are part of security details deployed to control the usually rowdy scenes that occur at the do or die shopping duels with would-be customers.

Reginald Chimhuto, a resident of Sakubva in Mutare says the Task Force on prices controls is only benefiting the armed and uniformed forces as ordinary people often fail to buy the goods whose prices would have been reduced.

“This is as good as corruption as the police in control of queues buy most of the products in bulk for their friends and relatives leaving a few for the ordinary people who spend long hours in queues,” said Chimhuto.

His sentiments are shared by fellow Mutare resident Promise Maunganidze who says the police, army and prison servicemen take advantage of their position while controlling the rowdy queues to deprive others of having a chance to buy the commodities in short supply.

“We appreciate their role on crowd control but they are abusing their position by getting all the goods and allowing their friends to jump the queue,” says an equally agitated Maunganidze.

As a truckload of a sugar arrives at a city store police are already there where they forcibly push people into a queue for men and another for women. Armed with rifles and soldiers monitoring the situation the servicemen quickly buy the commodity in large quantities despite a new order that a person is allowed to have only six kilogrammes of the commodity.

With police-dogs on leash no one dares challenge the goings on save to ponder where this leads to.

Many leave without buying the special commodity.

Jeremiah Chingaira is one of those who fail to buy the sugar. He moans of how he will have to prepare porridge for his school-going children.

The man curses the police action as he says he has failed to buy anything from the shops after the price reductions owing to the practice.

Most shops in the city that are being targeted by the price control officials, soldiers, the police and other government workers are seen walking away with loads of maize-meal, sugar, cooking oil, eggs, milk and flour.

Recently some top Zanu PF officials in Rusape, about 100km north of Mutare took a swipe at policemen for hoarding all the basic commodities in short supply while controlling long food queue.