Government cracks down on smuggling to protect formal businesses

Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube on Monday said the government will take a firm stance against smugglers as their illegal activities negatively affect formal businesses.

In an interview on the sidelines of the 2025 post-budget breakfast meeting in Bulawayo, Professor Ncube expressed concern over the alarming rise in smuggling activities in recent years.

He added that it is crucial for the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA), in collaboration with law enforcement agencies and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, to take decisive action to demonstrate that such illegal activities will not be tolerated.

“It’s very important that our revenue authorities, working with the law enforcement agencies and security, take action to show that smuggling is killing our formal businesses, squeezing our formal businesses and hurting jobs,” he said.

Recently, a multi-agency operation targeting small businesses and cross-border transporters involved in smuggling and unethical business practices was launched across the country.

The Ministry of Industry and Commerce is spearheading the task force, in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra), the Zimbabwe Republic Police, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), the Consumer Protection Commission and other law-enforcement agencies.

The crackdown is aimed at stopping the influx of illicit goods flooding local markets. The authorities are also targeting businesses engaging in practices such as using parallel market exchange rates and selling counterfeit, underweight or unlabelled goods. Prof Ncube said the blitz was being carried out around the country at the borders and right across the economy.

He emphasized the importance of ensuring that citizens and economic players adhere to the law, cautioning against treating smuggling as a normal way of conducting business.

“That’s what we are trying to do, to make sure that our citizens, our economic players, stick to the law and don’t think that smuggling is the normal way to do business,” he said.

New Ziana