‘Business-People’ open illegal border posts

Some businesspeople have opened illegal corridors along Zimbabwe’s borders to facilitate the smooth passage of smuggled goods in and out of the country, with police identifying 51 such crossing points.

The illegal border posts coupled with unsophisticated customs systems at ports of entry and exit have seen Government lose millions of dollars in potential revenue.

A Parliamentary also reveals that South Africa and Botswana are deporting about 2 000 Zimbabwean border jumpers every month, while 1 000 are arrested weekly. At a workshop organised by the Shipping and Forwarding Association of Zimbabwe in Harare on Friday, Zimra regional manager Mr Batsirai Chadzingwa said some businesspeople were responsible for proliferation of illegal crossing points. Mr Chadzingwa conceded that customs facilities were failing to cope with increasing volumes of travellers at border posts, but declined to give further details regarding the smuggling rings in a brief chat with The Sunday Mail.

“The current infrastructure at the borders is not enough to support business at our ports of entry. It is our wish and desire to expand them. Forbes Border Post in Manicaland is still where it was when I joined the then Customs Service in 1992 and naturally you cannot expect the same facility to handle the volume of traffic which is now passing the post.”

A Parliamentary report on Peace and Security shows that Zimbabwe has 51 illegal crossing points.

The report was presented in Parliament by the Senate Thematic Committee on Peace and Security and drew information from oral evidence presented by police Deputy Commissioner-General Innocent Matibiri on May 22, 2014.

Smuggling, stock theft, lack of proper travel documents and inter-marriages among those living in border areas were identified as reasons for the proliferation of the “border posts”.

The report also indicates that police are failing to monitor borders due to insufficient resources.

Police also indicated that border jumpers took advantage of falling water levels in Limpopo River to illegally cross into South Africa.

In the first half of 2013, South Africa deported more than 28 000 Zimbabweans via Beitbridge Border Post, while Botswana arrested over 22 000. The largest number of deportations in a single day was recorded on December 5, 2011 when 672 Zimbabweans were rounded up in South Africa’s Limpopo and Gauteng provinces.