THE South African Police Service (Saps) is today convening a multi-sectorial summit in Polokwane, Limpopo Province, to deal with rampant smuggling of cigarettes into that country by Zimbabweans. RICHARD MUPONDE SENIOR COURT REPORTER
The summit is being hosted by the Saps Limpopo provincial commissioner, the Directorate Priority Crime Investigation Limpopo, the Tobacco Institute of Southern Africa and the University of Limpopo to discuss ways to effectively curb the illicit trade in cigarettes in the province.
The Saps’ Limpopo provincial spokesperson colonel Ronel Otto told Southern Eye in a telephone interview yesterday that today’s meeting objectives were aimed at devising ways of dealing with rampant smuggling of cigarettes from Zimbabwe through the Beitbridge border post.
“The smuggling is very rampant to the extent that different brands of cigarettes are being smuggled into Limpopo Province in transit to Gauteng Province,” she said.
Otto said last week the Saps intercepted cigarettes worth R800 000 in Limpopo that were destined for the Johannesburg market but could, however, not divulge how many suspects were arrested.
“From time to time, we engage our counterparts (Zimbabwe Republic Police) in Beitbridge on the issue, but the problem persists as huge volumes of cigarettes are still being smuggled from Zimbabwe on a daily basis,” she said.
The Saps Limpopo said it was common knowledge that their province was used as a storage and a transit route by cigarette smugglers coming through the Beitbridge border from Zimbabwe.
“The Limpopo challenge will also be positioned against a national backdrop as illicit trade in cigarettes accounts for about 30% of the total South African cigarette market to date,” the Saps’ invitation to the summit reads.
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Two Zimbabweans were recently intercepted along the NI highway while transporting 1 000 boxes of cigarettes with a street value of R1 million to Johannesburg using two Gauteng-registered vehicles.
Cigarettes smuggling has proved to be a thorn in the flesh for South African officials as reports by the South African Revenue Service (Sars) indicated that drug peddling syndicates had turned to cigarette smuggling.
Although reports showed that cigarettes are also smuggled into South Africa using the Kopfontein border post between South Africa and Botswana, Sars indicated that the Beitbridge border post accounts for 70% of the tobacco contraband in the neighbouring country.
