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ZIMBABWE'S veteran President Robert Mugabe accused businesses on Wednesday of hiking prices to turn voters against him ahead of presidential elections later this month.

"They keep raising and raising prices, and we wonder whether they want to raise the prices until the prices reach heaven," Mugabe told thousands of villagers at a campaign rally in Mahusekwa, about 70 kilometres (about 43 miles) south-east of the capital Harare.

"Some are doing it for the elections saying: 'Let's make life hard for the people so that they cry and blame it all on Mugabe's government.

"Getting 1 000 percent profit. That's not profit. That's profiteering which is condemned in the bible."

Mugabe admitted Zimbabweans were facing numerous problems, like food shortages, saying his government had formed emergency committees to expedite food distribution.

Zimbabweans go to the polls on March 29 to elect a president, legislators, senators and local councillors.

Mugabe, 84, is hoping to secure a sixth term of office as leader of the former British colony he has ruled since independence in 1980.

The elections are to take place against a backdrop of economic meltdown in Zimbabwe, which has an official inflation rate of more than 100 000 percent - the highest in the world.

The government has tried several measures to rein in runaway inflation, including ordering business to halve prices after accusing them of colluding with Mugabe's foes to trigger anti-government protests.

Zimbabwe's last elections, won by Mugabe in 2002, were dismissed as rigged by western observers and the opposition.

Mugabe is being challenged for the presidency by his former finance minister Simba Makoni, since expelled from the ruling Zanu PF, and main opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai. - AFP

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