Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR) president, Denford Mutashu, has appealed to government to shut down small businesses operating in the downtown area. Mutashu accuses them of rejecting electronic forms of payment such as mobile money transfer and bank cards.
Mutashu said that it was necessary for those businesses to prove that they do not smuggle in their commodities. Mutashu said:
We recommend that area must be shut down and every shop owner… account for what they have done in terms of satisfying authorities on how much they have been banking per day, what are the sort of activities in their accounts and if they have been paying taxes.
There is also need to prove sources of where they are purchasing their goods because a lot of their goods are smuggled.
His remarks were reiterated by Harare Residents Trust (HRT) chairperson, Precious Shumba, who called for the downtown businesses to reveal how they purchase and import their commodities. Posting on Facebook, Shumba said:
People who are going downtown to buy are being denied opportunities to use mobile money, swipe and EcoCash, as shop owners are demanding cash only payments.
What type of management systems or accounting systems are they using that do not allow them to accept mobile transfers?
This raises a lot of questions such as where are they getting their goods to the extent that they are demanding cash only payments?
Several businesses have been accused of either tax evasion or tax avoidance or both.
More: Daily News
