News / National
'Buy Zimbabwe organisations cheating the people'
12 Oct 2015 at 09:15hrs | Views
Harare east Zanu-PF MP Terence Mukupe said he will fight the exploitation of citizens by some organisations which come in the guise of Buy Zimbabwe campaign yet cheating the people.
"I am all for protecting local industry against dumping of foreign products but what I will not tolerate is the exploitation of ordinary citizenry under the guise of the Buy Zimbabwe campaign! When Twizza came onto the Zimbabwe market Delta were retailing a can of 300ml of coke for $1.20," he said.
"Twizza came and started retailing a 1 litre of their beverages for $1. Magically Coca Cola had reduced their can of coke to $0.60 cents and are still profitable. Now we have the health officials banning Twizza!" He said the same thing happened with sugar.
"In the past 6 months we have seen an influx of new sugar brands being down packed here in Zimbabwe. A ton of sugar from Malawi has been landing in Harare for $580 whereas the same ton from Tongaat Huulet in Chiredzi is retailing for $800," said Mukupe.
"We saw in the Mid-Term Monetary review policy we introduced a $100 per ton duty on sugar imports. As of last month sugar imports have effectively been banned as no new permits are being issued! The same story is true for cooking oil, powdered milk, milk etc... The common denominator between the Deltas and the Tongaat Huulets is that they operate as monopolies and cartels at best. Interestingly these entities fund the Buy Zimbabwe campaign."
He said what the Buy Zimbabwe activists forget to tell their monopolistic masters is that what we the people of Zimbabwe want are just and equitable pricing regimes.
"Government needs to step in to protect the consumers from these shameless profiteering companies," he said.
"I am all for protecting local industry against dumping of foreign products but what I will not tolerate is the exploitation of ordinary citizenry under the guise of the Buy Zimbabwe campaign! When Twizza came onto the Zimbabwe market Delta were retailing a can of 300ml of coke for $1.20," he said.
"Twizza came and started retailing a 1 litre of their beverages for $1. Magically Coca Cola had reduced their can of coke to $0.60 cents and are still profitable. Now we have the health officials banning Twizza!" He said the same thing happened with sugar.
"In the past 6 months we have seen an influx of new sugar brands being down packed here in Zimbabwe. A ton of sugar from Malawi has been landing in Harare for $580 whereas the same ton from Tongaat Huulet in Chiredzi is retailing for $800," said Mukupe.
"We saw in the Mid-Term Monetary review policy we introduced a $100 per ton duty on sugar imports. As of last month sugar imports have effectively been banned as no new permits are being issued! The same story is true for cooking oil, powdered milk, milk etc... The common denominator between the Deltas and the Tongaat Huulets is that they operate as monopolies and cartels at best. Interestingly these entities fund the Buy Zimbabwe campaign."
He said what the Buy Zimbabwe activists forget to tell their monopolistic masters is that what we the people of Zimbabwe want are just and equitable pricing regimes.
"Government needs to step in to protect the consumers from these shameless profiteering companies," he said.
Source - Byo24News
