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HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Nearly 7,500 business leaders and traders have been arrested for violating sweeping price controls since they were imposed six weeks ago, the government said Monday. President Robert Mugabe vowed not to back down from the clampdown.
The June 26 government order to slash prices by about 50 percent was meant to curb Zimbabwe's runaway inflation, but the measure has caused acute shortages of basic goods. Businesses say they are being forced to sell their products at a loss, and opposition politicians have called the price cuts a ploy to shore up ruling party support.
Police spokesman Oliver Mandipaka said 7,495 people have been arrested since the order, the state-run Herald newspaper reported. Most were jailed briefly and fined, and some were sentenced to community service cleaning government buildings after magistrate Olivia Mariga declared fines alone were not deterring profiteers.
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