one till operating. Inside we were met with rows of empty shelves. Not one chicken, not one piece of meat, no eggs, no marge, no rice, no sugar, no cooking oil, no toothpaste, no tea bags, no instant coffee, no pasta, no bread, no bread rolls, no pies, no toilet soap, no washing powder, no matches, no biscuits, no sweets,
There was not a single bottle of brandy, cane, gin or even a bottle of cold drink or beer. There were, however, four bottles of cheap whiskey at $4 million a bottle.
There were a few things like tomato sauce/puree, Vim, hand cream, cabbage, rape, tomatoes, onions, and garlic at $90.000.00 per kg. We bought two packets of tea leaves, one tin tomato puree and a tin of mixed beans.
Off to ZV. Not much better. Some chocolate at the bakery, some wine. There were about 10 packets of cereals, the same few hand creams and Vaseline.
Off to Budget Friendly. Better. Some spring water. Managed to buy four toilet rolls, one cocoa, one mango chutney. They also had the same tomato sauce, tomato puree, a few tins of fruit, some powdered milk, wine, and six bottles of whiskey, globes and mossie coils.
There was a long queue. On investigating, we discovered it was for the newspaper … everybody wanting to see what was said at the SADC Summit meeting in Lusaka, where Mr Mugabe was given a standing ovation and informed the meeting that the shortages were exaggerated.
Power Sales and Number 1 were both closed and had only a few items of clothing. The shop next to Number 1 – closed down and empty. People were wondering around, looking stunned – us included. A shocking and depressing experience.
JEHEENI AND IKENI, Zimbabwe
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