Stiff challenges to President Robert Mugabe’s controversial economic policies are now coming from within his own party. In a move that is likely to rankle Mugabe, his own legislators on Wednesday summoned the Deputy Minister for Industry and International Trade, Phenias Chihota, to a ruling Zanu-PF party caucus meeting where he was told to ”revise his price controls” and stop ”disruption [to] business”.
”Next we want to meet not just the minister, but also the Cabinet task force of price controls and monitoring,” said a Zanu-PF legislator from Manicaland province, who declined to be named.
”We are likely to lose next year’s elections if they don’t revise their policies. There is nothing on the shelves; people are going for days without bread, cooking oil, even sugar and soft drinks,” he fumed.
The heated meeting, which lasted four hours, saw at least 10 legislators severely criticising the deputy minister.
Among the most outspoken legislators were Masvingo Province Senator Dzikamai Mavhaire, the Deputy Minister for Water Resources, Walter Mzembi, Zanu-PF chief whip Joram Gumbo and Deputy Minister for Local Government Morris Sakabuya.
”We told him they should go back to the drawing board; companies are closing down and people are losing jobs. This nonsense should stop and we are listening to what the people are saying,” an anonymous MP said.
Mugabe has told Parliament in the past that multinationals were trying to effect a regime change by increasing prices of basic food commodities to foment civil unrest.
More than a thousand business people and company executives have been arrested and sentenced to community service for defying price controls.
Zanu-PF parliamentarians fear that current shortages will make their lives difficult in the forthcoming presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections campaign.
Already, the party is battling to raise close to US$700 000 to oil its campaign machinery, which requires more than 100 vehicles, over 500 000 shirts, computers, and food and fuel.
”We can’t take the risk of losing elections by keeping quiet,” the parliamentary source said.
”The risks are high. Many feel they may be voted out in the elections because [of] the shortages and the looming food crisis,” he added.
While Mugabe maintains his government is a victim of international sanctions, economists in Zimbabwe say the crisis is man-made.
Presenting his US$142-million supplementary budget last week, Finance Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi said the ”withdrawal of international lines of credit, absence of balance of payments support, disinvestment by foreign firms, [lack of] foreign currency for the importation of raw materials, equipment, fuel and electricity continue to affect the operations of key sectors of the economy”.