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Price blitz: CCZ official held
16/07/2007 11:41 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe's consumer council is loud in its condemnation of black marketeers and high prices, but now one of its officials has been arrested for selling sugar at way above the stipulated price, say reports.
It was reported that Tawanda Danda, a regional officer for the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ), was arrested on Friday by members of the Anti- Corruption Commission.
He was found to be selling six tons of sugar now in desperately short supply in inflation-ravaged Zimbabwe at above the price set by President Robert Mugabe's government.
The Zimbabwean authorities were waging a highly-controversial war against high prices in what critics said was a bid to win over impoverished voters ahead of next year's presidential and parliamentary polls.
Officials from more than 3 200 shops and businesses from across the country had been arrested and fined since last month in a high-profile price blitz, which had seen price inspectors and police forcing shop owners to halve prices.
Danda was in charge of supporting consumer clubs in Mashonaland East province.
The clubs had been set up to boost the buying power of struggling civil servants. Groceries were bought in bulk from wholesalers using money pooled by club members.
But, Danda was allegedly abusing his position to access groceries from wholesalers and then selling them at an inflated price for personal gain, the Herald said.
Sapa-dpa
- SAPA
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