MOSES MATENGA
Organised criminal gangs in Zimbabwe and South Africa are fuelling smuggling of illicit drugs, cigarettes and other goods between the two countries in what authorities say has now become a national security threat mainly in the neighbouring country, Business Times has learnt.
The existence of the organised gangs was confirmed by multiple sources including a leading anti-corruption activist and Tax Justice South Africa’s Yusuf Abramjee who said the criminals remain in existence despite heavy-presence of security details at the border posts.
Smuggling of goods, authorities say, has become so rife and sponsoring criminal activities and leading to the South African government failing to satisfy its citizens in terms of service provision hence mutating into a national security threat.
“South Africa now has the world’s largest and most sophisticated cigarette smuggling network, with illicit accounting for approximately 70% of the total cigarette sales nationwide,” Abramjee said.
Yesterday, he confirmed the arrest of six foreign nationals, among them Zimbabweans, in the Waterberg and Vhembe Districts in Limpopo for dealing in illegal cigarettes.
“While authorities have upped their efforts to combat the smuggling of cigarettes from Zimbabwe into South Africa the reality is that millions of illicit cigarettes continue to make their way into the country,” he said.
“These smugglers have allies at the highest level, who allow illicit cigarettes to flood our border in exchange for massive profits.”
He said the smuggling of illicit cigarettes into South Africa was impacting negatively on the failure to deliver by the South African government as billions in potential revenue are lost in the criminal web.
South Africa has been hard-hit by illicit cigarette smuggling that has
seen the neighbouring country losing at least R50 million (US$2.6
million) daily in potential revenue from a well-coordinated syndicate
including politicians.
“All South Africans are impacted by the illicit cigarette trade. It steals over R50 million from taxpayers and the exchequer on a daily basis. This impacts the government’s ability to invest in vitally needed services such as healthcare, energy, housing and basic services,” he said.
“It also poses a national security risk, financing organised crime and gangland violence.”
On whether there is a will from authorities to deal with cigarette smuggling, Abramjee said: “South Africa’s primary agencies in the fight against illicit, the National Prosecuting Authority and Revenue Service, were hollowed out during years of State Capture leaving them ill-equipped to tackle the sophisticated smuggling networks that have emerged. We now see that even when criminal proceedings are successfully issued by these agencies, they rarely result in a conviction.”
Zimbabwean and South African authorities have, however, expressed willingness to combat cross border crime.
