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Harare - The Zimbabwe government's threat to take over companies defying controversial price controls is not a joke, Industry Minister Obert Mpofu was quoted as saying on Monday.
Obert Mpofu told the ruling ZANU-PF party members meeting at the weekend in western Zimbabwe that the government had already started identifying companies it plans to take over.
While embarking on this project of price stabilisation we are now deep in the process of identifying all those business entities that are for regime change with a view of taking over the companies, Mpofu was quoted as saying by the state-controlled Chronicle newspaper.
"It is unfortunate that when we say these things, people brush them off and say it is only a joke," he said. "We are now going to take over the companies (and) buy them out.
"If they think we are not serious, let them wait until we knock at their doorsteps," added the minister, who chairs a special taskforce responsible for enforcing price controls imposed more than two months ago.
Mpofu was on Monday due to meet with some major companies including industrial retail giant Edgars, according to the Chronicle.
Reports last week said Edgars was about to close down 19 of its 55 clothing stores, putting at risk the jobs of more than 200 workers.
The Zimbabwe Independent newspaper, a respected business weekly linked the store closures directly to the price cuts that have made business unviable for many companies here.
Mugabe's government imposed price cuts of at least 50% in June to try to fight inflation, which has now reached more than 7 600%.
But the controls appear to have backfired. Stores are now empty of most basics, including meat, milk, bread, cooking oil and sugar.
Many of the goods are available on the black market though at inflated prices.
Mpofu admitted at the weekend that it was difficult to enforce the price controls if the government did not control the companies that produced the goods.
"Right now, if we are to take a stroll in our cities, most of the shops have run out of commodities," Mpofu noted.
"But these same commodities are there in the streets and houses where people are buying them. This simply shows how difficult it is to control something, which is not yours," he was quoted by the Chronicle as saying.
- Sapa-dpa