By Shame Makoshori
A study commissioned by the Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR) has revealed that several goods recently removed from the general import licence have found their way into the informal market.
Under the controversial Statutory Instrument (SI) 64 of 2016 introduced in March, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce banned the import of about 100 products into Zimbabwe.
Government said its intervention was meant to protect domestic industries, which have been failing to stand competition from cheaper and higher quality imports.
Products that have been removed from the open general import licence include fertilisers, plastic pipes, wheel barrows, roofing frameworks, tinned fruits and vegetables, dairy products, furniture, coffee creamers and petroleum jellies.
Previously, government had gazetted a ban on the importation of batteries, candles, floor polish, tobacco twines, second-hand clothing, blankets, 23 pharmaceutical products, milk, potatoes, onions, biscuits, sugar, poultry, meat products and yeast.
CZR president, Denford Mutashu, said the lobby group had carried out extensive investigations in Harare, where it found that imported products had flooded tuck shops.
These are mostly informal retailers, who receive supplies from informal cross border traders.
He said he feared this would continue to undermine the objectives of the import ban that has triggered revulsion by manufacturers in South Africa and Zambia, whose firms were benefitting by exporting into Zimbabwe.
Domestically, SI 64 has also not been well received by informal cross border traders who import goods from other countries for resale in Zimbabwe.
“We carried out an investigation and found that foreign products are still finding their way into the country. All banned products are in the market,” Mutashu said.
A survey by C&M also indicated that there were some lines of imported beans and candles on the domestic market.
Imported tinned beef is also on the market.
While Mutashu said the CZR was still investigating the case, there was potential that huge quantities of imports were being shipped into the country illegally through porous borders.
There are high levels of corruption at the country’s border posts, and officials from the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority have been arrested for facilitating illegal imports and the evasion of duty payments.
Mutashu spoke as several reports by government and the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries showed that consumption of domestic products had improved.
Last week, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, John Mangudya told C&M that several companies in the manufacturing sector had started registering growth since SI 64 was introduced.
“If you look at Hunyani, it is almost at 100 percent capacity utilisation because of these measures,” Mangudya said.
“If you look at Proplastics, their order book has improved. We are saying production, production, production,” he said.
A new report by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency appeared to indicate that despite the reported improvements, importation of goods remained high in the country in August this year, compared to exports.
The report indicated that imports increased by 13 percent to US$444 million during the review period, against exports of US$203 million.
From January to August, Zimbabwe imported goods worth US$3,3 billion.
Exports worth US$1,5 billion were shipped, resulting in a US$1,8 billion trade deficit.