Solochi cracks whip on Mtendere woman obstructing ZNS from finding price gouging shops

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A SHOPKEEPER at the controversial ‘More Grace, More Favour’ wholesale shop in Mtendere Compound in Lusaka this morning earned herself a free stay in the cold floors of Mtendere police station after she was detained this morning for attempting to obstruct a Zambia National Service (ZNS) operation targeting illegal price hikes on Eagles Mealie Meal.

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The woman who is a shop seller works at a shop that was already under scrutiny for selling Eagles Mealie Meal at exploitative prices far above the government mandated K230 and was raided around 05:00 hours.

At the time of the raid, Mwambazi had already sold 18 bags of mealie meal at inflated prices, leaving 732 bags, which were subsequently confiscated by ZNS officers.

When confronted about the illegal sale, Mwambazi told ZNS Commander, Lieutenant General Maliti Solochi, she said the shop only adds a K20 from the original government set price, contrary to what her customers said.

The customers revealed that Mwambazi’s shop sold the Eagles Mealie Meal as high as K305 to them.

“The shop is for my sister, she is admitted at Optical Hospital. So the reason why we open around 04:00 hours to sell because I have to go to the hospital to look after her,” she defended herself.

But when Lt Gen Solochi made things tough for her, her admitted sister immediately got discharged and removed from the hospital drips as she said that she would make herself appear at the scene in the next 10 minutes to answer to the questions, of which she did.

Unfortunately for the alleged sisters in business, their stories did not match, as the owner of the shop came with another lie, stating that their mealie meal is sold at K230 and that she was related to one retired ZNS personnel.

However, despite their lies, Commander Solochi’s men still emptied their shop. But while the mealie meal was being loaded into the ZNS track, Mwambazi was heard telling resident who camped outside her shop not to guide the ZNS entourage to where other mealie meal exploiters were operating from.

But unlucky for her, she was heard by the officers, which angered commander Solochi and ordered that Mwambazi be taken to Mtendere Police Station for attempting to obstruct justice.

“This kind of behaviour is unacceptable. We are working to protect the people from exploitation, and anyone who obstructs this mission is directly undermining the welfare of Zambians,” said the Commander.

Further, Gen Solochi assured the community that government is committed to ensuring that they access affordable mealie meal and willing to get rid of anyone that will come in between the wellbeing of Zambians.

“So we will not stop, next time when we have information that one of these shops that we have closed are selling mealie meal at high prices again, we shall ask for an express warrant from the attorney general. I’m going to ask him so that when we find one we will just bang the lock and open it, if we don’t find mealie meal, we will lock it back with our lock and give the keys to the owner,” said Lt Gen Solochi.

“Otherwise I think that is how we will need to be operating. People need to see action. When we are just talking, it’s like they just think that we are just talking. But now, this operation will not stop. So those who have mealie meal, let them be warned. Even if they have closed their shops, it’s a sign that they are guilty. If you have mealie meal, sell it at K230 and we must find a sticker on the mealie meal if there is no sticker, we will take it that you are selling the mealie meal at an exorbitant price, even if its K231, we will get, for as long as you have passed our set price of K230.”

The ‘More Grace, More Favour’ shop has been a hub of controversy in Mtendere, accused of hoarding mealie meal and reselling it to wholesalers at prices as high as K305, forcing residents to pay inflated rates for the staple commodity.

Residents expressed their frustration, accusing the shop of exploiting them for financial gain while they struggled to access affordable mealie meal.

“We are tired of being taken advantage of. We thank the ZNS for coming to our rescue. This is what we need to stop these people from making our lives harder. We are failing to afford mealie meal despite government bringing it down for us at an affordable price because these people are selling it at an expensive price,” said a resident.

The alerted residents even escorted the Commander and his entourage, to take Mwambazi to the police, and later helped in identifying other shops that are illegally selling the Eagles Mealie Meal at higher prices.

By Buumba Mwitumwa

Kalemba January 21, 2025

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