The Sunday Mail
For a long time, there has been talk of our porous borders.
Shocking as it is, 50 percent of the nation’s potential revenue is being lost at the country’s ports of entry as goods are smuggled in and out of the country without paying duty.
That is a lot and might be the reason why Government is struggling with the civil service wage bill.
During his tenure, Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa has been putting in place a stringent of measures that are meant to levy taxes on imported goods and protect local products.
While some goods now require import licenses, they are still finding their way into the country.
But instead of seeing a corresponding increase in the national revenue, the revenue has been on a downward spiral for quite some time now, with Zimra’s Commissioner General — Mr Gesham Pasi — reporting that the country’s taxman has been failing to reach set targets.
Of course fingers have been pointed at his team and the police, although this has been done discreetly. Who would blame the people, after all Zimra has got an anti-smuggling unit and there is heavy police presence at all the country’s borders. But despite all this, illegal activities still take place at the borders in broad daylight.
Now, information coming in from the Ministry of Home Affairs show that the border post employees such as immigration officers, Zimra employees and police officers are involved in the well-oiled smuggling rackets.
Sadly, the collaboration of these stakeholders is critical in plugging leakages caused by the smuggling of goods in and out of the country.
May Dr Augustine Chihuri and Mr Pasi please tell their teams to stop lining their pockets and focus on building economy.
But while they are attending to those housekeeping issues, Home Affairs Minister Dr Ignatius Chombo is here to help them serve the day. A crack-unit that is headed by Dr Chombo and a Cabinet Committee has been set up to combat smuggling at the border posts.
We commend the Government for moving in to deal with the scourge that has been rampaging our boarders.
CCTV and lie detector tests for border post workers are certainly the way to go to deal with the leaks.
That Cabinet Committee surely has a herculean task ahead of it, as the country is expecting nothing short of miracles from them.
Dr Chombo says with the measures in place, by mid-year we should be able to compare statistics and measure progress.
“…out of the 50 percent of revenue that we are losing, we are going to retain up to 30 or so percent through these measures, so that we get revenue for our civil servants,” the good doctor has pledged.
Well Cde Minister, you have set a good target for your team and we expect you to deliver. We would have preferred that you recover the whole lot but we will be content with that, for now.
The flooding of imports has tremendously affected local producers as they are elbowed out of competition owing to the growing influx of cheap commodities. Everything from minerals, tobacco, cigarettes, food, cars, and clothes is being smuggled in and out of the country without paying duty.
The local industry needs to be protected from such unfair competition. Otherwise as it is, some investors might be reluctant to set up shop in the country due to that cancer.
It would be naive to expect improvement on the liquidity situation without first addressing the areas contributing to illegal trafficking of minerals and other goods across the border.
This corruption is real but Dr Chombo cannot deal with it alone. What we need is a multi-sectoral approach to ensure that goods are imported through the normal channels and that they pay duty. The police, the Home Affairs Ministry and Zimra needs to join forces to fight this scourge that threatens to destroy the core of our national revenue.
Editorial Comment: Seal off those porous borders
The Sunday Mail
For a long time, there has been talk of our porous borders.
Shocking as it is, 50 percent of the nation’s potential revenue is being lost at the country’s ports of entry as goods are smuggled in and out of the country without paying duty.
That is a lot and might be the reason why Government is struggling with the civil service wage bill.
During his tenure, Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa has been putting in place a stringent of measures that are meant to levy taxes on imported goods and protect local products.
While some goods now require import licenses, they are still finding their way into the country.
But instead of seeing a corresponding increase in the national revenue, the revenue has been on a downward spiral for quite some time now, with Zimra’s Commissioner General — Mr Gesham Pasi — reporting that the country’s taxman has been failing to reach set targets.
Of course fingers have been pointed at his team and the police, although this has been done discreetly. Who would blame the people, after all Zimra has got an anti-smuggling unit and there is heavy police presence at all the country’s borders. But despite all this, illegal activities still take place at the borders in broad daylight.
Now, information coming in from the Ministry of Home Affairs show that the border post employees such as immigration officers, Zimra employees and police officers are involved in the well-oiled smuggling rackets.
Sadly, the collaboration of these stakeholders is critical in plugging leakages caused by the smuggling of goods in and out of the country.
May Dr Augustine Chihuri and Mr Pasi please tell their teams to stop lining their pockets and focus on building economy.
But while they are attending to those housekeeping issues, Home Affairs Minister Dr Ignatius Chombo is here to help them serve the day. A crack-unit that is headed by Dr Chombo and a Cabinet Committee has been set up to combat smuggling at the border posts.
We commend the Government for moving in to deal with the scourge that has been rampaging our boarders.
CCTV and lie detector tests for border post workers are certainly the way to go to deal with the leaks.
That Cabinet Committee surely has a herculean task ahead of it, as the country is expecting nothing short of miracles from them.
Dr Chombo says with the measures in place, by mid-year we should be able to compare statistics and measure progress.
“…out of the 50 percent of revenue that we are losing, we are going to retain up to 30 or so percent through these measures, so that we get revenue for our civil servants,” the good doctor has pledged.
Well Cde Minister, you have set a good target for your team and we expect you to deliver. We would have preferred that you recover the whole lot but we will be content with that, for now.
The flooding of imports has tremendously affected local producers as they are elbowed out of competition owing to the growing influx of cheap commodities. Everything from minerals, tobacco, cigarettes, food, cars, and clothes is being smuggled in and out of the country without paying duty.
The local industry needs to be protected from such unfair competition. Otherwise as it is, some investors might be reluctant to set up shop in the country due to that cancer.
It would be naive to expect improvement on the liquidity situation without first addressing the areas contributing to illegal trafficking of minerals and other goods across the border.
This corruption is real but Dr Chombo cannot deal with it alone. What we need is a multi-sectoral approach to ensure that goods are imported through the normal channels and that they pay duty. The police, the Home Affairs Ministry and Zimra needs to join forces to fight this scourge that threatens to destroy the core of our national revenue.
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