WELL before the advent of this artificial intelligence (AI) maze, I had the opportunity to read famous 19th century Russian novelist and dramatist Nikolai Gogol’s classic satirical play, The Government Inspector.
I never thought the play, first performed centuries ago, and set in a small and remote Russian provincial town, would have such relevance today. I bet, even others who may have come across it will testify.
It is a rendition of corruption, human greed, bribery and dishonest bureaucratic system issues the world is grappling with today.
Smuggling basically refers to the illegal movement of goods into or out of the country. It does not just happen. Someone, somewhere knows what is taking place and supports it for financial benefit. That makes it a corrupt practice.
The Gogol reference is made to illustrate how human frailty often makes people “blind” to the goings-on.
High-ranking officials in a remote Russian provincial town get wind that a government official is visiting from St Petersburg and were keen to curry favour with him to cover up for their vices.
In case of mistaken identity, Klestakov — the heavily-indebted young man who arrives — is pampered with gifts, money and even the mayor’s daughter, as everyone scrambled to please him. When he leaves, the real government inspector arrives.
Beitbridge Border Post bustles daily, all year round. Things will be happening. People do not go to sleep, with several using unorthodox crossing points around the border area. It remains one of the “hottest” insofar as smuggling is concerned.
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A 2023 Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe Investigative Journalism fund on transnational crimes in the Beitbridge Border Post area was an eye-opener to the massive smuggling that takes place around the border town.
It was by chance that I joined the company of a group of men recruited to carry cartons of Remington Gold cigarettes across the Limpopo. They got paid on crossing and, with my bunch of new-found friends, trekked back to KalaHari Bar, which had become my hunting ground to sniff information.
Some of the discoveries then were shocking. About 80% of residents of the border town survive on smuggling. Zimbabwe loses a fortune through the smuggling of cigarettes into South Africa. Everyone knows it is happening.
Back in the border post, I thought I would have access to the scanners area after noticing a queue of haulage trucks at the entrance. A lady senior immigration officer, who was in charge, demanded documentary proof on why I should be allowed to have access to the section.
In less than 10 minutes, my boss in Harare had provided it, but the lady insisted on a printed copy, which she claimed she wanted to stamp as acknowledgement of receipt and then send to her boss who was attending the Limpopo Tourism Facility opening.
By the time I came back with a printed copy, the convoy of haulage trucks was gone.
Further inquiries revealed that minerals such as chrome ore and gold were smuggled across regularly, bleeding the economy millions. Lithium ore smuggling was allegedly rampant at the Forbes and Nyamapanda border posts.
The airports are another playground, especially for gold and dangerous drugs. With drugs, Zimbabwe’s airports are mainly transit points.
These loopholes can be sealed, but the vantage point is sincerity in us as citizens and players in the economy.
Zimbabwe’s porous border posts are an incentive for smugglers. These are not the people that bring cartons of cooking oil for consumption in Bocha, but powerful politicians and politically-connected individuals moving goods worth millions of dollars across the border.
The smugglers are well-networked and very knowledgeable of the routes, timing and corrupt state authorities to exploit around border areas. Very influential individuals, their networks go as far as the major cities in Zimbabwe, as well as Pretoria, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth on the South African side.
Authorities know what is happening, but it appears they are untouchables. However, it has become more urgent that smuggling is curtailed to halt hemorrhaging the already ailing economy.
