By Alois Vinga

CONFEDERATION of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) has urged government to deal with individual corporates it accuses of hoarding the United States dollar for speculative purposes instead of “trapping everyone in the same pit”.

This comes after President Emmerson Mnangagwa early this week announced stern measures targeting to weed out perceived economic saboteurs, which he referred to as economic hitmen.

NewZimbabwe.com also reported Friday Mnangagwa’s administration was targeting some big corporates who have been identified as the major culprits.

The companies are being accused of speculative borrowing and destabilising exchange rates in the process.

This week the central bank launched an investigation targeted at banks amid plans that the nets would soon close in on suspected large corporations.

Matsheza said they would support government’s initiatives if they were applied fairly.

“Definitely, those found on the wrong side of the law must face the music. We encourage our membership to discharge duties with due diligence and to be always on the right side of the law. We concur with the government that there is a need to maintain the current multi-currency system as this will bolster productivity and exports. CZI believes that the move to compensate depositors of the value they lost at the point of dedolarisation is the way to go,” Matsheza said.

“However, one issue currently affecting industry is the move to suspend lending to the private sector. While we concur on the need to carry out exhaustive investigations into this important matter, there is no need to place a blanket ban which affects everyone including the innocent businesses as it is the case currently,” he said.

“The authorities must simply target the suspected perpetrators and investigate them individually other than trapping everyone in the same pit. The ban on lending must therefore be lifted,” he said.