Business Reporter
Officials from the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development conducted a raid on Spar Supermarket at Fife Avenue Shopping Centre in Harare on Thursday, seizing several trolleys of Snowflake self-raising wheat flour that was allegedly smuggled from South Africa.
Mr. Simbarashe Masanga, a Senior Agricultural Economist, emphasized the importance of legal compliance for businesses, stating,
“We cannot issue permits for these products because we understand there is a substantial amount of flour in the country, with many local brands that can compete easily. However, the illegal nature of these products poses negative competition to our local products as they do not pay duty.” He further added,
“To bring sanity to the agricultural marketing space, we have to conduct these raids occasionally.”
The operation is set to expand to all provinces, with a fine of US$1,100 imposed for selling goods without the necessary import permits.
On the same note, the Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce has emphasised that special permits are issued to importers only when there has been a serious need such as shortage of the commodity.
Before import permits for such goods as flour and cement are issued relevant industry players are consulted. If there is a consesus then the permit will be issued.
Deputy Minister Raj Modi was speaking to captains of industry last evening at the Bulawayo City Council chambers gathered to discuss the impetuous challenges faced by Bulawayo manufacturers due to proliferation of smuggled goods in local stores, especially Messian shops.
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