MORGAN Tsvangirai toured Harare shops and supermarkets yesterday to assess the impact of a government directive to reduce prices by 50 percent

By Batsirai Muranje and Patricia Mpofu 

HARARE – A Zimbabwean photojournalist was on Wednesday beaten up by the wife of Zimbabwe army commander Constantine Chiwenga while covering a tour by Morgan Tsvangirai of shops in Harare to assess the impact of a government crackdown on prices that began two months ago. 

The controversial Jocelyn Chiwenga, pounced on award-winning photojournalist Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi at Makro Wholesalers in Harare as Tsvangirai toured shops and supermarkets to assess the effects of the price crackdown that has triggered massive shortages of basic goods in shops. 

Chiwenga, who was among the shoppers in Makro at the time of Tsvangirai’s visit, verbally abused the Zimbabwe opposition leader accusing him of causing the shortages because of the “sanctions” that he had called on Zimbabwe. 

President Robert Mugabe and his ruling ZANU PF party have in the past blamed Zimbabwe’s economic woes on “illegal” sanctions imposed by Britain and her Western allies. They also accuse Tsvangirai and his opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party of calling for sanctions against Zimbabwe. 

“This is the effect of the sanctions," an irate Chiwenga said as Tsvangirai and his team expressed shock over the empty shelves. 

As photographers jostled to take photos of the MDC leader and his team, Chiwenga ordered Makro staff to close the doors trapping Mukwazhi and several other journalists and MDC officials inside the building. 

She then grabbed Mukwazhi and slapped his face accusing the photojournalist of “sending 'false' pictures to Britain.” 

“I was shocked by the attack," Mukwazhi later told ZimOnline. "They freed me a few minutes later after all my colleagues had gone." 

This is not the first time that Chiwenga has been in the news for the wrong reasons. 

In 2003, Chiwenga beat up former Daily News lawyer Gugulethu Moyo at a police station in Harare after she had gone there to secure the release of a photographer who had been arrested while covering an MDC demonstration. 

Five years ago, Chiwenga boasted that “she had not tasted white blood since 1980 and missed the experience” after she seized a farm from its white owner at the height of the government’s violent farm invasions. 

Tsvangirai first visited Gutsai Supermarket in central Harare before visiting OK Bazaars outlets in Harare’s working class suburbs of Mufakose and Budiriro. 

At a press briefing after the tour, Tsvangirai attacked the price controls saying they were not sustainable. 

“This is a crazy policy which has resulted in shortages of basic commodities. This regime has failed," he said. 

Zimbabwe is in the grip of a debilitating economic crisis that has manifested itself in the world’s highest inflation rate of over 5 000 percent, a rapidly contracting GDP, the fastest for a country not at war according to the World Bank and acute shortages of foreign currency, food and fuel. 

The crisis took a turn for the worst last June after Mugabe ordered that businesses should halve prices of all commodities in a desperate bid to control inflation. 

The price cuts have led to shortages of basic goods, while economists have warned that the crackdown could trigger a total collapse of Zimbabwe’s weakened economy. - ZimOnline