Zimbabwe arresting merchants

AFP:

More than 1,300 shop owners and business managers have been arrested in Zimbabwe as part of a crackdown on firms accused of flouting government-imposed price controls, police said Monday.

Most of the 1,328 bosses had been fined but the number also includes 33 company executives arrested since Friday who will now appear in court, said police spokesman Chief Superintendent Oliver Mandipaka.

"We have arrested 33 managers between Friday and yesterday for defying the price controls," Mandipaka told AFP.

"They are in police custody and are expected to appear in court."

Zimbabwe's Industry Minister Obert Mpofu ordered businesses a fortnight ago to halve the prices of all goods and services in a bid to curb spiralling inflation but the edict has been widely ignored.

Many manufacturers say the government-set prices mean they cannot cover their costs and have stopped production, leading to wide-spread shortages of basics such as cooking oil and salt.

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These kind of decrees happen when you have economic ignorance at the top of a government run by despots. The government will in effect cause a national strike, because no one can stay in business where they are not permitted to sell their goods for more than they paid for them.