Govt to ban unlicensed imports of foodstuffs

zanupf is a control freak regime. It is vital for them that they retain
control of food distribution to ensure that people vote for them. No vote
for zanupf = no food and starvation. They are banking on the UN to bring in
food aid of which the main donor is the USA. If anyone in the USA Congress
or the United Kingdom government read this, please be advised that any food
you send to Zimbabwe will be used by the Regime of Robert Mugabe as a
weapon. My message to you is don't send aid unless your own agencies are
going to distribute this food aid. There has to be strings attached or you
will be subverting the democratic process and helping to sustain an
illegitimate regime in power.

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Govt to ban unlicensed imports of foodstuffs

Constantine Chimakure


THE government will next month ban the import and export of various goods,
among them groceries, for resale or disposal without a permit.

This is meant to kill off cross border trade in basic commodities which has
largely kept shops supplied in the absence of locally manufactured goods.

According to statutory instruments 137 and 138 of 2007 gazetted last week,
the importation of goods such as beef, butter, cooking oil, milk, cheese,
sugar, tea, wheat flour, ice-cream, fertiliser, cotton lint and hides and
skins without a permit will be outlawed with effect from August 1.

The exportation of meat, millet, milk, poultry, sorghum, soya beans,
sunflower, tea, vegetables and wheat will also be banned. Families are
allowed to import goods worth US$250 a month for domestic consumption only.

Individuals and companies wanting to import goods will have to apply for a
permit from the Ministry of Industry. The ministry's secretary can revoke
the permit if the holder fails to comply with its conditions. The permit is
not transferable.

Legal experts said the ban on the importation of groceries would mostly
affect cross border traders who have been buying an assortment of groceries
from countries such as Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia and Malawi
for resale back home.

The traders, most of them women, have managed to keep the country's markets
alive by supplying various goods such as cooking oil, soap and margarine in
times of shortages of locally manufactured brands.

Their goods were sold at affordable prices as compared to locally
manufactured ones.

Cross border trading had also become a major source of employment, income
generation, improved food security for households and a means for improving
living standards.

The Zimbabwe Independent


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