Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Zimbabwean vendor sells donkey 'beef'

A Zimbabwean man cashing in on the country's food shortages sold donkey meat to desperate residents claiming it was beef, a state daily reported on Monday.

The unidentified man went around a poor township in Beitbridge, near the border with South Africa, with a basket of meat he said was beef, according to the Herald newspaper.

"This man had an ear of a cow which he was using to hoodwink residents into believing that it was beef he was selling," a buyer was quoted as saying.

"Initially I had my own reservations as the meat did not look like beef until he showed me the ear of a cow."

The woman said she realised that it was not beef after a neighbour tipped her off and the vendor took to his heels after doubtful residents confronted him.

Butchers across Zimbabwe have run out of meat since President Robert Mugabe's government ordered businesses to halve the prices of goods and services, claiming some were colluding with the West to plot his downfall.

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