The Sunday News
I am appealing to the Government through the responsible ministry to intervene and stop the suffering of people from the prices of basic commodities which have continued to go up since September last year and in the process leaving people stranded.
The situation got even worse when the country started to experience shortages of fuel. Shops on the other hand are also demanding foreign currency for some products on their shelves and this has resulted in many families failing to celebrate their Christmas and New Year holidays in style as they could not be able to cope with the rising cost of living both in urban and rural areas.
Some Christmas travellers were left stranded at various long distance bus termini after the buses decided to increase their fares by more than six times as the bus companies claimed that due to fuel shortages these buses were now forced to buy diesel from the illegal black market where on average 5 litres of diesel now cost anything above twenty five dollars.
This bad situation has forced many travellers to cancel their journeys or to send one person per family. Those who went to the rural areas found themselves in a very difficult position when bus fares were hiked while they were still in rural areas.
Now the schools have opened for the first term and parents will be in hot soup if the Government fails to stop the expected increase in school fees, some of which will be pegged in USD which parents don’t earn.
Residents were shocked to hear that some local municipalities were now charging in foreign currency, as workers we are not paid in foreign currency but to our surprise it looks like everyone is demanding payment in USD.
We are appealing to government to at least put some laws which prohibit businesses and greedy individuals from profiteering because people are suffering.
Eddious Masundire Shumba, Waterford, Bulawayo
