mbulelo smpofu
Stephen Mpofu
THE discourse in this Saturday’s column is to applaud and support our Government’s crackdown on the rampant smuggling of goods, some of which are consumables that pose a danger to the lives of children.
These goods have been flooding our country from across our southern and northern borders.
To slam the doors shut on smugglers, the government has introduced a door-to-door crackdown to confiscate smuggled goods that are increasingly flooding the country, especially during the festive season when Zimbabweans in the diaspora flock back home to spend time with family and relatives.
Earlier this week, Engineer Tafadzwa Muguti, the Permanent Secretary for Presidential Affairs in the Office of the President, said in an address to journalists that a taskforce had been deployed to all major border posts and key roads to prevent the entry of smuggled goods.
He said the taskforce would target wholesalers, supermarkets, and tech shops, with a variety of food items, clothing, drugs, beverages, fertilisers, cement, vehicles, electrical gadgets, and solar panels.
A radio report stated that the impounded goods would be burnt.
Authorities have reported that 15 181 individuals have been arrested in connection with smuggling since January.
One Zimbabwean working and living in South Africa, who is back home for Christmas, confirmed to this communicologist just days ago that the South African government had mounted a massive crackdown on small unregistered shops set up by Chinese and Asian nationals.
These shops were accused of manufacturing snacks, such as chips, that were said to be dangerous to children’s health and which foreign workers in South Africa send back home for sale.
It is not surprising, therefore, that our Government’s anti-smuggling operations aim to save lives endangered by some unhealthy foreign products smuggled into the country by diasporan Zimbabweans looking to make quick money.
It therefore behooves all patriotic and law-abiding Zimbabweans to report to the authorities any informal traders known to deal in smuggled goods that pose health risks to Zimbabwean consumers or disadvantage legal, formal traders price-wise, so that appropriate protective measures may be implemented.
People in the countryside are probably more vulnerable to unsafe consumable goods smuggled in from neighbouring countries, and the anti-smuggling government taskforce might also wish to protect them.
Above all else, it is hoped that the ongoing anti-smuggling operations will also bring an end to the influx of drugs and substances wreaking havoc among the lives of young people in particular.
