By Taonga Sabola, Mercy Matonga, Daniel Zimba & Jarson Malowa:
Trade Minister Vitumbiko Mumba has blamed vendors for causing chaos and fuelling the problem of sugar scarcity in the country.
Mumba made the remarks during a press briefing held in Lilongwe yesterday, when he and government officials sought to shed light on issues surrounding sugar rumpus.
“We have seen that there are vendors who are paying people to buy large quantities of sugar bales. They are then reselling the same sugar at higher prices. This practice has contributed significantly to the current shortage,” Mumba said.
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He further revealed that some distributors got their contracts during the reign of other presidents, accusing them of owing their allegiance to those administrations.
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According to Mumba, the distributors are playing dirty tricks by making sure that sugar supply is compromised just to please their political masters.
He was, however, quick to warn that the distributors would not succeed as they would crash before President Lazarus Chakwera crashes.
“In terms of essential goods, there is fertiliser, maize, sugar, cooking oil, salt and second-hand clothes. If people want to fight political battles, they work on these goods because they are essential. Politics of most people is played around these commodities.
“That’s why, being close to elections, you hear stories about maize, cooking oil. A lot of unnecessary pressure. I can’t say much but what I can assure you is that there is also a lot of politics going on in this because some distributors became distributors under a certain leadership sometime back before MCP [Malawi Congress Party] came to power.
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“Because they were given the contracts by those people when they were in power, they owe everything to that particular group and they answer to those people. So, they call the shots. [They are told to] ‘hoard the commodity so that this administration should suffer’. They want to ride on the back of the pain of Malawians,” he said.
Mumba said, on the issue of vendors, he had written the Ministry of Local Government, which is responsible for vendors, to make sure that illegal sugar vendors are banned.
According to Mumba, the government will, from now onwards, attach security personnel to all tracks that are ferrying sugar to ensure that the commodity reaches its desired destination.
Mumba further said Malawi made a big mistake by privatising the then Sucoma, saying such a strategic firm needed to have remained under government control.
During the briefing, Illovo Sugar Managing Director Kondwani Msimuko said his firm delayed sugar crushing this year by close to a month due to the prolonged rainy season.
Msimuko, however, said the firm had started sugar crushing at both its Dwangwa and Nchalo estates.
On his part, Salima Sugar Chief Executive Officer Wester Kosamu said his firm had delayed sugar crushing because their accounts had been frozen by the court.
According to Kosamu, they have now started sugar crushing.
He said the commodity is now flowing straight to the market without any stoppages at warehouses.
He expressed optimism that, all things being equal, the sugar market will normalise within a few days.
A visit by The Daily Times to one of the supermarkets in Lilongwe Wednesday morning showed that there were long queues and chaos as people had heard that the shop would receive some sugar that day.
Agness Kambanje, a trader from Kawale in Lilongwe, said she was waiting for someone to bring her sugar after buying it from the shop.
“I cannot manage to stand in the queue and, as such, someone is buying it for me at K80,000. I will resell it at K100,000. If the government really wants the problem to end, it should ensure that sugar is readily available in the country,” Kambanje said.
Some women, who refused to mention their names, said they travelled from distant areas to buy sugar with the intention of reselling it in their local shops.
“I come from Dedza and my friend is from Kasungu. In our districts, there is very little supply of sugar but here, we easily buy the commodity because we recruit several people to purchase it on our behalf,” said one of the women.
A shop official said many of the buyers were not purchasing sugar for household use as they, most likely, could not afford to do so at the retail price of K59,000 per bale.
“If you look closely, most of these people cannot afford to buy a bale of sugar for personal use. The majority of the buyers are vendors.
“Unfortunately, we have no authority to decide who can or cannot buy sugar. We’re also fearful because some of them can become violent,” the official said.
The employee added that tensions often escalate, noting that, on Tuesday, some individuals damaged a gate leading to another section of the premises.
In Blantyre, scores of people gathered to buy sugar at one of the retail stores close to Wenera, where some people could be heard quarrelling with security personnel.
By 08:45am, hundreds of people had already lined up at the shop, ready to purchase the commodity.
By 10: 55am, the commodity was finished.
One of the shop managers complained that people who were queuing for sugar were disrupting their business as other customers who wanted to purchase other items, notably soap, cooking oil, fizzy drinks, kitchen equipment and salt, were being denied the chance to do so as some of the sugar buyers were blocking entry points.
“The situation is bad. While we are trying our best to stock, and sell, sugar, we are suffering, in terms of sales of other commodities because sugar buyers are unruly and sometimes violent. They are noisy and unreasonable and, as such, other customers are shunning our outlets. Traffic is only picking up when the sugar is finished,” said the senior official.
In Zomba City, some businesspersons have resorted to repackaging sugar in small packets, which they are charging in line with quantity.
One of the traders, who identified himself as Issa, said they were able to generate K7,400 from a one kilogramme packet of sugar by repackaging the sugar in small packets to cater to those who could not manage to buy sugar due to the current scarcity or those who could not afford a whole packet due to economic factors.
One of the shop managers in the old capital said they had not restocked sugar for almost a week because sugar buyers were destroying things.
“Last time, they destroyed door handles as they scrambled to gain entry into the shop. We urge the government to be providing free security services, through the Malawi Police Service, if they want us to be restocking the shelves with sugar without fearing that buyers could damage things at our premises. That way, we will be selling sugar without problems,” the source said.
During the press briefing, Mumba announced that the sugar whose dispatch he oversaw in Salima District was destined for different parts of the country.
