Zimbabwe President Mugabe to launch basic commodity program

HARARE, July 16 (Chinese media) -- Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe will on Wednesday launch a program to provide basic commodities directly to all households at affordable prices, as he fulfills promises made during the presidential election run-off campaign last month.

The Basic Commodities Accessibility program is meant to avail basic goods such as cooking oil, mealie-meal, flour, laundry and bath soap, among other products, to rural and urban households, according to The Herald on Wednesday.

Most of these products have not been available in shops over the past few months while they have been fetching exorbitant prices on the parallel market where they are readily available.

The launch will strictly focus on rural areas while distribution logistics for urban areas are still being worked out. The initiative is also expected to benefit boarding schools, hospitals, clinics, orphanages and old people's homes, among other needy institutions.

Briefing journalists during a tour of some of the warehouses in Harare on Tuesday, the Secretary for Information and Publicity George Charamba said this was a sign of things to come as the government moves to restore people's buying power. The warehouses were well-stocked with basic commodities, most of them imported, while trucks were on standby to start delivering the goods soon after the launch.

The project is a culmination of collective effort by various ministries and government departments. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is providing technical advice and back up. "The Government is shifting from a ministry-based activity to a situation where ministries are converging on an activity.

"Gone are the days when we would cut the feet to fit the shoe, a situation where we now cut the shoe to fit the feet," said Charamba.

Reserve Banm of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono, who was part of the tour, said the Basic Commodities Supply Side Intervention initiative launched last October had taken another dimension from providing funds strictly to manufacturers to boost production capacity, which they had failed to provide the goods directly to the people.

"The program is not a substitute for local production. This is meant to complement business and at the same time whip them to deal with overcharging. The indiscipline in this economy is chronic so we can actually make it disappear through using a direct intervention where we can show manufacturers that goods can be produced and sold to people at affordable prices and still make a profit," said Gono.