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Cletus Mushanawani
News Editor
SOME haulage truck drivers passing through Forbes Border Post are dodging clearance channels at the Mutare Dry Port and making use of fake Covid-19 certificates, thereby putting the lives of the people they interact with at risk of contracting the highly contagious virus.
Investigations conducted by The Manica Post this week revealed that the truck drivers are receiving funds for PCR Covid-19 tests from their employees, but they are opting to use part of it to buy fake certificates.
PCR tests range from US$25 to US$60, depending on the laboratory.
Those privy to the underhand dealings said the unscrupulous individuals producing the fake PCR Covid-19 certificates are charging between US$10 and US$30, depending on how urgent it is required by the ‘client’.
Last year, the Government gazetted Statutory Instrument 216 (2020) which spells out regulations for travellers entering or leaving Zimbabwe.
Every traveller is required to produce a PCR Covid-19 certificate showing a negative result and issued by a recognized health facility within 48 hours before leaving the country by road or air.
Now in the latest development and in order to avoid scrutiny of the fake Covid-19 certificates, the drivers holding the documents are deliberately creating confusion and congestion at Forbes Border Post.
The truckers are supposed to pass through the Mutare Dry Port for clearance.
However, they wait until police officers manning the roadblock near Mutare Dry Port leave around 8pm to drive straight to the border and park their vehicles among cleared trucks.
At times, the trucks’ queue at the boarder can stretch for more than five kilometres, thereby making it almost impossible for a dishonest trucker to be moved out of the queue to return to Mutare Dry Port when he or she is identified.
In the midst of the confusion created by the heavy traffic at the boarder, the truck drivers with counterfeit Covid-19 certificates present them to under-pressure and unsuspecting immigration officers.
Instead of producing original Covid-19 certificates as required by law, some drivers are even producing hand-written, scanned or photocopied documents.
Authorities say some drivers, especially those from neighbouring Zambia, only produce signed letters without any barcodes for immigration officers to verify their authenticity. Department of Immigration Control’s Eastern Region Immigration Officer, Mr Richard Tambandini, this week confirmed that a number of both local and foreign truck drivers are using fake Covid-19 certificates.
He said some of the drivers have been brought to book during joint operations by his department and the Zimbabwe Republic Police, with the latest operation having been carried out early this week.
Among those caught on the wrong side of the law is Ephraim Zvoushe, who is employed by a Harare-based company, – Mukundu Transporters. Zvoushe was arrested on Tuesday after producing a fake Covid-19 certificate to alert Department of Immigration and Control officers.
Zvoushe was on his way to Mozambique and is alleged to have contravened Section 36 (1A) (2) of the Immigration Act. He was expected to appear before the Mutare Magistrates’ Court yesterday (Thursday).
Four Zambian registered trucks were also impounded, while three local trucks were later released after the drivers produced original documents. “We are processing a lot of trucks, either those going out or coming into the country through Forbes Border Post. When it is really busy, we can process up to 300 outgoing and 150 incoming trucks per day.
“To reduce congestion at the border, we have deployed our officers as well as police officers to Mutare Dry Port to help in the clearing process, but some drivers are circumventing this.
“We have also realised that some of these drivers wait until police officers manning the roadblock near Mutare Dry Port leave around 8pm to drive to the border and park their vehicles among the cleared trucks,” said Mr Tambandini. He said for them to pick the counterfeit Covid-19 certificates, they scan the barcode of the presented documents.
“We do not accept scanned, hand written or photocopied documents. Covid-19 certificates have barcodes and we retrieve individuals’ information through those barcodes. In some cases, we realise that the information we obtain from the barcodes is different from that on the presented document and the individuals are brought to book.
“Usually the font size on the forged documents is different from the original ones. We are experiencing a lot of challenges, especially with some Zambian truckers as they are producing either typed or handwritten Covid-19 certificates or letters,” he said.
Mr Tambandini added: “We are now very much alert and will continue flushing out these unscrupulous individuals because we cannot allow them to put other people’s lives at risk. We will continue scanning all documents.” The Zimbabwe Anti-corruption Commission (Zacc) has since warned laboratory centres that are issuing fake Covid-19 certificates that the net is closing in on them.
“We have received reports that there are some laboratories are involved in the issuance of fake covid-19 certificates, The commission would like to warn such perpetrators that the long arm of law will soon catch up with them,” said Zacc spokesperson, Commissioner John Makamure.
Online Reporter