Symbol of collapse Dell (21-06-07)

ther basic foodstuffs since government launched its controversial price control blitz, which decreed that companies should reduce prices of commodities to June 18 levels, despite rampant inflation of some 8,000 percent.
Villagers who spoke to our correspondent in the cattle-rich Matabeleland North Province last week complained of harassment in the hands of state agents, whom they said are accusing them of working with the opposition MDC to effect “illegal” regime change in the country.
“They are threatening us, saying the government will take away our cattle if we do not sell to the CSC. They accuse us of listening to the MDC instead of the ruling party which gave us the land that we rear our cattle on. They promised to come back in less than two weeks to check if we would have changed our stance,” said an elderly man in the Jambezi area.
The villagers, who accused the CSC teams of trying to “cheat” them by offering less than Z$10 million for a fully-grown ox, alleged that the agents were going around counting people’s cattle and pointing out which ones should be sold to the CSC.
“They usually choose oxen and healthy heifers. They do not listen even if we tell them that we rely on those beasts for draught power. We do not know what to do now because they seemed to be very serious. I am afraid that I will lose my cattle just like that,” complained one worried villager, who also requested not to be named.
Sources within the security forces confirmed that government had deployed members of the CIO, the Police Internal Security Intelligence (PISI) and the army to try and induce farmers to sell their cattle to the CSC.
Industry and International Trade Minister, Obert Mpofu, who early this month accused farmers of causing artificial shortages of beef through their reluctance to sell their cattle, at the weekend professed ignorance of the alleged harassment and promised to “look into” the allegations.
“I have not heard about that (harassment). I will investigate that. We do not force people to sell our cattle to the CSC, but farmers should also be patriotic enough to sell their cattle and feed the nation. They should know that we are not going back on the price control exercise. Even if we re-license more abattoirs, those will not offer more because they will be sub-contracted by the CSC,” said Mpofu, who also chairs the Taskforce on Price Monitoring and Stabilisation. – Bayethe Zitha