'Dramatic' price increases in Zimbabwe

Harare - Zimbabwe imposed dramatic price increases for certain staple food products on Saturday, but the capital is reportedly quiet after a weeklong blitz.

The blitz on street traders and shack dwellers saw tens of thousands arrested or left homeless in the midwinter cold.

State radio announced that the price of maize meal would increase, effective immediately, to Zim$19 000 a 10kg bag, while a standard loaf of bread would increase 29% to Zim$4 500.

Similar price rises in 1998 triggered riots in which at least seven people died after President Robert Mugabe deployed troops backed by tanks and helicopters to townships.

Saturday's price hikes were accepted with apparent resignation in Harare, where residents had fought running battles with police last week as paramilitary squads torched and bulldozed roadside kiosks, known as tuckshops, and hundreds of homes.

"Things are really calm now," said Lovemore Machingedzi, an official of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in the capital's southern suburbs, which bore the brunt of the unrest of the past few days.

'An explosive mood

Machingedzi warned, however, of an explosive mood among former guerrillas, powerful supporters of Mugabe's government over the past five years who face the demolition of settlements they established after seizing white-owned farms with official encouragement.

"My understanding is that the situation where they are is very, very tense because they thought they could do what they want," he said.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai accused Mugabe of launching what was described as a nationwide "clean-up campaign" to punish the urban poor for voting against his ruling Zanu-PF in March 31 parliamentary elections, and to deter protests as economic catastrophe looms.

At a meeting of his ruling party central committee on Friday, Mugabe publicly backed the crackdown on street traders and shack dwellers, officially code named "Operation Murambatsvina", or "Operation Drive Out Trash".

"Our towns and cities, including the capital, had become havens for illicit and criminal practices which just could not be allowed to go on," he said.

His government has blamed speculators, black market dealers and alleged Western economic sanctions for the current crisis. He promised compensation for those who had "wrongly suffered damage".

Many arrested traders had vending licences while those left homeless had official lease agreements for sites developed with World Bank and US aid.

One such project was in Harare's northern Hatcliffe area, where opposition legislator Trudi Stevenson said on Saturday that 500 evicted families had been left shivering in winter frosts.

James Morris, head of the World Food Programme and personal emissary of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, is due here on June 1 for talks on the humanitarian crisis with Mugabe.

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