JOHANNESBURG - Vendors and buyers of illegal Zimbabwean cigarette brands here have been left stranded after the seizure of trucks smuggling these brands to South Africa.
The confiscation of such brands last week at the porous Beitbridge Border Post last week have led to scarcity of such brands as Everest, Madison, Kingsgate and Remington Gold in the market.
The brands are so scarce. I have not had a supply of the said cigarettes for the past week and I am not sure when I am going to get the next supply. This is killing the profitability of my business, a vendor in Berea, Johannesburg said. It was reported authorities last week confiscated three truckloads of cigarettes smuggled into South Africa from Zimbabwe. Following years of arresting vendors of the cigarettes that illegally enter the country, South African police changed their strategy to targeting syndicates that bring the tobacco products to the country.
They mount roadblocks in major highways thus cutting the supply line. The South African Revenue Services believes government loses an estimated R2 billion in tax revenue to cigarette smuggling, which is about the same amount as the legitimate tax revenue. SARS spokesperson, Adrian Lackay, told media illicit cigarettes were being smuggled into South Africa mainly from Zimbabwe.
Other cigarettes are smuggled from neighbouring countries in the SADC region, as well as the Middle East and Far East.
Cigarette smuggling in South Africa leads over 5.5 billion cigarettes, or 20 percent of all cigarettes in the country, is sold on the black market.
Mike Hough, former Director of the Institute for Strategic Studies at the University of Pretoria, said the porosity of South Africas border worsened the smuggling of cigarettes into the country. Border security is largely focused on ports of entry and not the border line, but the border line is nearly in a state of collapse. There is also illegal movement of goods across the borders counterfeit cigarettes, stolen vehicles, small arms and drugs.
Zimbabwean-made are popular than South African brands because of low pricing. They sell for between 60cents and R1 each, which is two times lower than South African products.
Post published in: News