Crossborder Smuggling: Lifeline For Unregistered Traders

Cheap smuggled goods have taken over trading spaces in Bulawayo. Image by The Zimbabwe Independent

BY LIZWE SEBATHA | @The_CBNews | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | JUL 9, 2021

The government has tightened security to stop goods from being smuggled into the country from neighbouring countries, but, is this enough?

BULAWAYO (The Citizen Bulletin) — With no formal employment, Bekithemba Ncube (not his real name) says smuggling groceries and other goods from neighbouring Botswana for resale in Bulawayo helps him put food on the table for his family.

The financial benefits from the illegal trade outweigh the risks of arrests and jail time, he argues.

“We travel mostly at night to evade arrest.”
Bekithemba Ncube, an informal trader

Ncube runs a small grocery shop in Bulawayo’s busy 5th Avenue agricultural market.

A number of grocery shops, mostly selling cheap smuggled goods, have ‘taken’ over trading spaces at Bulawayo’s agricultural market.

The grocery shops are always crowded while other traders that purchase those goods from ‘smugglers’ operate from city pavements.

“If I am not travelling to Botswana, my links provide the groceries from the neighbouring country via illegal entry points, paying bribes along the way where possible,” Ncube says.

“We resort to smuggling because of the high duty taxes and corruption at the immigration points. And besides, borders are closed.”
Bekithemba Ncube

According to police, the smuggling of goods via illegal entry points in rural Plumtree is also rampant citing the recent arrests of smugglers.

In May, Matabeleland South police confiscated an assortment of smuggled goods in Mbimba and Madlambuzi in Plumtree.

“On 16 May, police in Madlambuzi intercepted a grey Toyota D4D twin cab FF20 HP GP wit trailer FH19PM GP laden with smuggled goods at Madlambuzi business centre and nabbed Mqondisi Dube, Reason Ncube and Butholezwe Mkwanazi for smuggling,” the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) says.

“Police also recovered an abandoned Toyota GD6 vehicle GIMM74 with trailer 002GIF GP at Mbimba business centre laden with smuggled goods.”

A month later in June, police revealed the arrest of three other suspects for smuggling goods into the country in Nxele, also in Plumtree.

“On 26 June, police in Plumtree arrested 3 suspects for smuggling and recovered 6x43 inch LED television sets, 26 Waxiba radios, 15 Bluetooth box speakers, 50litres of diesel and various clothing at Nxele illegal cross point,” the ZRP adds.

Various state security organs are involved in joint border patrols code-named “Operation No to Cross Border Crimes” to curb the illegal border crossings by returning residents.

Home Affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe has said drones will be deployed at the borders to fight the vice. However, the practice continues to flourish under law enforcement watch.

Former Chief Nhlanhlayamangwe Ndiweni says the government is fighting a losing battle. “If the government of the day has failed to provide for the people, then it is only right and proper that they fend for themselves,” Ndiweni says.

“They (government) compound this failure by forcing the ordinary man and woman to border jump instead of allowing them to travel in an orderly fashion with customs duties or payments of any sorts, on what goods they are carrying.”

Bulawayo based commentator Reginald Shoko also admits that the government is fighting a losing battle as he called on policymakers to address challenges facing local industry.

“Fighting smuggling is a good way of doing things but is not a panacea of solving the problems that are facing the local industry and consumers which then forces the consumer to lean more on smuggled goods.”
Reginald Shoko, a commentator

Shoko argues that people have been forced to smuggle because of the high cost of goods locally, emphasizing the need to look at internal devaluation as some prices are a result of high exchange rates and “pure greediness”.

“We need to look at the build-up of prices from electricity, labour cost and all other cost drivers that affect the final pricing structure in Zimbabwe so that the prices are competitive.”

The national statistical agency, ZimStat said the food poverty line (FPL) as of June 2021 stood at $4,271.85.  This means that the minimum needs basket cost that much per person in June 2021.

ALSO READ: Seven Year Wait For Insuza Home-Seekers

This represents an increase of 3.2 per cent over the May 2021 figure of $4,139.10

Estimates by the government and other independent agencies show that the illegal smuggling of goods costs the Treasury nearly US$1billion a year in unpaid customs duty. Without any means of escaping the socio-economic crisis characterised by high unemployment, Ncube says the need to fend for his family motivates him to continue with the vice.

“If the employed are struggling to make ends meet, how do they expect us to survive? …this is my meal ticket also,” Ncube says.

Do you have a hyperlocal story to share?

WhatsApp us on: +263 71 863 6459.  Email us on: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

.