Bread vendors sneak back onto streets

Andile Tshuma, Chronicle Correspondent
WHEN Government declared a lockdown on March 30 due to the threat of Covid-19, a lot of things changed in the city.

Informal traders were affected, many people in the business of buying and selling goods were left stuck with a lot of stock with nowhere to sell as people stayed indoors.

For weeks, the city centre was turned into a ghost town.

However, slowly, normalcy is returning and vendors are sneaking back to their work stations on the streets.

Vendors selling bread, in particular, are back to Bulawayo’s streets and are selling the commodity mostly from cars.

Bread has become a luxury for most families as it now costs an average of $50 for a standard loaf.

However, bread on the streets is much cheaper than bread from the shops, but the only difference is that on the streets only cash is needed.

A standard loaf of bread at a Baker’s Inn factory shop in Belmont goes for $45 while a family loaf costs $53. However, on the streets of Bulawayo in town and in residential areas, depending on the area one can find a loaf at a cost ranging from $33 to $38.

The common logic would be that all the vendors selling bread at a price cheaper than their buying price are making a loss.

Yet, the bread is not the commodity on sale; the business idea is collecting cash to exchange for electronic money at a premium.

That’s the maths on the street. The electronic money is used to buy more bread and sell it again.

Most bakers and retail outlets dotted around the city sell a standard sliced loaf of bread for around $50 and they accept all forms of payment ranging from cash, mobile money and swipe.

Vendors who spoke to Chronicle said they buy the bread for $45 but sell it for a minimum of $38 on the streets, while a loaf fetches $50 in the shop.

A vendor in town who was selling bread near Tredgold Building, who identified himself as Terrence Mpofu, yesterday said he had come back to do business after a lockdown sabbatical.

He said he was playing cat and mouse with police, although business was relatively good.

“We use bread to get cash from people. If I can buy 200 loaves from say Bakers Inn at $9 000 and I sell the same bread in the street I get $7 600 cash. That cash is bought by a forex dealer at fifty percent premium and I get about $11 400. I would have gained more than $2 000 in a matter of hours. The lockdown has slowed things a lot, but nowadays it is better at least we can trade in town,” he said.

Bulawayo residents who were buying bread from vendors said they prefer to buy the cheaper bread as most shops were not offering any discount for cash purchases.

“It is better to buy from the street if you have cash as it is cheaper, and the bread from the street is always cheaper than in the supermarkets as it sells fast,” said Mrs Jennifer Nkomo from Sauerstown suburb.

National Consumer Rights Association (NACORA) spokesperson Mr Effie Ncube said bread is now expensive.

“The immediate replacement of bread is mealie meal, but subsidised roller meal is scarce. People have no choice but to skip some meals so that they stretch their supplies. The cost of bread, mealie-meal and other basic commodities are now beyond the reach of the majority of Zimbabweans so there is a need for government and other stakeholders to quickly come together and find a solution,” said Mr Ncube. -@andile_tshuma