- विज्ञापन -
Harare: As the festive season approaches, Zimbabwe is ramping up its efforts to combat smuggling, particularly along its borders. Tafadzwa Muguti, Permanent Secretary for Presidential Affairs in the Office of the President and Cabinet, highlighted that the country is losing up to 1 billion USD in revenue due to smuggling.
Smuggling typically increases during the Christmas and New Year holidays when Zimbabwean expatriates return home, bringing goods, mainly from neighboring countries like South Africa. These goods include food, clothing, drugs, beverages, vehicles, fertilizers, cement, electrical gadgets, and solar panels, among others.
In response, the government launched an anti-smuggling campaign in November, establishing a taskforce that includes tax authorities, police, immigration officials, local authorities, consumer protection bodies, and monetary authorities to tackle the issue.
Muguti stressed that smuggling undermines the collection of customs and excise duties, discourages investment, and harms local businesses by creating unfair competition. The influx of smuggled goods also negatively impacts job creation and employment, while further eroding the economy.
In addition to economic concerns, smuggling poses security risks and threatens public health, as smuggled food, medicines, and alcohol bypass necessary health and safety controls. Muguti also noted that smuggling is linked to organized crime, including armed robberies involving smuggled guns.
As part of its anti-smuggling strategy, the government will confiscate and destroy second-hand clothes at police stations, donate smuggled foodstuffs to charity, and incinerate drugs at district and provincial hospitals.
