Border Patrols Halt Booming Smuggling Business

BY LIZWE SEBATHA | @The_CBNews | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | MAY 14, 2021

The advent of COVID-19 added a new business idea for cross border smugglers who have been printing fake COVID-19 negative certificates. Now, many have run of luck while others remain unfazed.

BEITBRIDGE (The Citizen Bulletin) — While COVID-19 induced travel restrictions inconvenienced many, in particular cross-border travellers, the same cannot be said for touts at Beitbridge Border Post involved in the illicit business of smuggling of goods.
 
The same touts, described as organised criminal gangs by police, make a living facilitating easy passage to border jumpers and desperate travellers exiting or entering the country without COVID-19 certificates.
 
In the wake of the outbreak of the virus and as part of precautionary measures, all returning residents and those exiting the country are supposed to have a COVID-19 negative certificate.
 
The COVID-19 tests are priced at anything in the upwards of US$50, a figure many have dismissed as exorbitant, providing a window of opportunity for touts to make money through the provision of fake COVID-19 certificates.
 
However, luck ran out for Farai Moyana (42) and Trymore Mhlanga (30), all from Dulibadzimu suburb, after they were arrested for processing fake COVID-19 clearance certificates for people travelling between South Africa and Zimbabwe.
 
Their trial kicked off on May 4 before Beitbridge magistrate Annia Chimweta following their arrest by security teams comprising police and immigration officials as they went about their illegal business in the border town.

“It’s no longer business as usual. Colleagues are being arrested for smuggling and producing fake COVID-19 certificates; goods are being confiscated by the police and other security teams at the border-town.”
Andre Moyo (not his real name), one of the touts

He bemoaned police crime-busting operations at the border-town which he says had left him struggling to make ends meet.
 
“They are closing most of our avenues of making money. In fact, smuggling is becoming a risky business yet it is our only source of livelihood.”
 
In the case of the arrested duo, they face charges of violating sections of the Immigration Act and the Criminal Law, Codification and Reform Act. A raid into their house led to the recovery of fake MED LABS COVID-19 clearance certificates.
 
The two were also in possession of a fake Zimbabwean immigration date stamp, one fake South African immigration stamp, a canon printer, a Toshiba laptop, a stapler, a 16 gig memory card and a Toshiba laptop they were using to run their operations.
 
According to police, the anti-crime operations at the border post began on January 7 targeting touts and organised criminals gangs involved in the smuggling of goods and other contraband.
 
Illegal border jumpers are also being arrested.
 
The exact number of touts at the entry point is not known but from residential addresses given by those arrested; they are drawn from all corners of the country.
 
Official records show that around 13 000 would cross into both Zimbabwe and South Africa via Beitbridge per day.

“Police warn members of the public against smuggling goods into the country and entering or exiting through unauthorised points. On 27 April 2021, 209 people were arrested for violating immigration laws during an operation ‘No to Border Crimes/Mhosva Pamiganhu Ngadzipere/Amacala Kawaphele Emingceleni Yelizwe,” police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi says.

Since the onset of the operation on January 7, 2021, 16 069 people have been arrested.

Home Affairs and Cultural Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe adds: “We are aware the Beitbridge border stretch is quite long and therefore, it is impossible to have adequate manpower at each and every point.

“We have beefed up security personnel, but over and above that, we are also in the process of deploying new technologies (drones) to be used to patrol those areas.”

Surveillance drones will monitor security challenges posed by smugglers and border jumpers. Image by IT Web

According to the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNNC), the country could be losing an estimated US$80 million monthly due to porous borders, lax customs and security systems, translating to almost US$1 billion annually.
 
Customs duty is one of Zimbabwe’s largest sources of tax revenue, along with individual tax, accounting for billions of dollars in annual State revenue that finances key Government programmes and pays civil servants.
 
Zimbabwe has borders with South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia.
 
As Beitbridge touts and hawkers complain over the closing of their ‘smuggling of goods cash-cow', analysts hail police anti-smuggling operations as necessary to protect local jobs and industry.

ALSO READ: Elderly Citizens Abandoned, Hard Hit By Poverty

“It’s a positive development for local manufactures because they have been crying over a lot of smuggled goods into the country and disrupting the local value chain. It is going to be good if it’s sustained. We need a plan of dealing with smuggled commercial goods as they cause company closures and unemployment,” Reginald Shoko of the black empowerment lobby group Affirmative Action Group (AAG) says.
 
However for Moyo, a self-confessed smuggler of goods at Beitbridge Border Post, all hope is not lost, he says.
 
“This is because we are used to these anti-smuggling operations. They will get tired,” he confidently says.

Do you have a hyperlocal story to share?

WhatsApp us on: +263 71 863 6460.  Email us on: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.