State television quoted Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo as saying that business owners who supported the protests by shutting out their workers will have their operating licenses withdrawn and be forced to close.
"They are playing a risky game. They must be ready to shut permanently," he said.
The government's response to the opposition calls for protests across the country beginning yesterday was seen as an unusually forthright and a desperate effort, tinged with panic, to pre-empt the biggest challenge to its rule, analysts said.
The opposition says it wants Mugabe to negotiate on the nation's deepening political and economic crisis and agree to step down so new presidential elections can be held.
In weekend advertisements headed "Countdown to the final push," the opposition said: "Any thought of the dictator giving up power quietly is sheer delusion. The Zimbabweans story begins to unfold -- sadly, in our streets. We are now ready to go. The end is now in sight."
Zimbabwe is facing its worst economic crisis since independence with record inflation of 269 percent and acute shortages of hard currency, local money, gasoline, medicines and other essential imports and food. Only international food aid has averted mass starvation.
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