daniel chigunwe
Prosper Dembedza Herald Correspondent
Local manufacturers have hailed the Government’s anti-smuggling drive which saw the arrest on Saturday, of 18 border control officials in Beitbridge on allegations of facilitating smuggling and the interception two days later, of 15 buses suspected to have been carrying contraband destined for Zimbabwe.
The arrested officials have since appeared in court for initial remand, while authorities are still probing the status of the goods found on the 15 buses.
Government has vowed to end smuggling at border entry points following the recent re-opening of land borders amid indications the State is losing millions of dollars in potential tax revenue to smugglers.
Smuggling is threatening many industries, most notably those that manufacture groceries and textiles, with many of them now in distress.
The Zimbabwe Textile Manufacturers’ Association (ZTMA) and the Zimbabwe Textile Workers’ Union (ZTWU) urged authorities to step up efforts to curb the rampant smuggling of textile and bedding products which they said was threatening to suffocate the industry.
ZTWU general secretary, Mr Raymond Huni, yesterday said they supported the stance taken by ZTMA that all illegal imports must be stopped forthwith.
ZTMA this week pleaded for tighter controls at border crossing points and retail outlets to save the local economy from collapse.
This statement was supported by ZTWU who said many unscrupulous businesses in Zimbabwe were defrauding the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) and the Government of Zimbabwe of millions of dollars in potential tax revenue.
Mr Huni said if this went on unchecked, textile manufacturers would be pushed out of business with thousands of jobs being lost.
“Examples being T2 twine that is used by farmers in tobacco processing where inferior T2 twine is being smuggled into the country at the expense of the local companies who produce such Twine and Cordage, and Webex. This is also degrading the quality of the tobacco.
“Buying from local manufacturers saves the much-needed foreign currency by enabling import substitution and also creates jobs,” said Mr Huni.
Smuggling was also of great concern to blanket manufacturers in the country.
“It has been noted that these smugglers are selling inferior products at far lesser prices because they evade paying things like Value Added Tax (VAT) so the local manufacturers are failing to compete on prices as this is an uneven playing field.
“At the same time, the smugglers demand only US dollars and do not submit any returns which is also prejudicing Zimra.
“It will be easy to catch companies trading like this if a task team was sent to blanket vending outlets in areas such as the Gulf complex, factories in Workington, Ardbennie and Granitside,” said Mr Huni.
“I believe this task force must include a representative from ZTMA who can assist with the investigations as we have the skills and information of the corrupt retailers/ outlets.”
“We appreciate the help provided by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce by limiting the licenses to bring in blankets to Zimbabwe as these can be manufactured locally.”
“We believe these smugglers submit wrong tariff codes to crook the duties that should be paid. This is at the expense of the Government and the local manufacturers. Which in turn, is also stealing Zimbabwean people’s jobs.”
ZITMA has also recommended that ZIMRA make full use of their skills when trying to identify the correct tariff codes of fabrics and blankets.
Online Reporter