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Zimbabwe Tries to Contain Smuggling Along Border With Mozambique
The Zimbabwean government has decided to acquire five commercial farms along the border with Mozambique to curtail the smuggling of goods which include weapons, a senior official said on Thursday.
Governor of Manicaland Province Oppah Muchinguri told reporters that the decision was made after a hive of activities of illegal trade and smuggling of goods along Forbes Border Post by both locals and Mozambicans.
Claiming that farm owners have been helping smugglers, Muchinguri said the farms had become a security concern to the nation and the government had to act urgently.
"Even guns are coming through these illegal entry points on these farms. We cannot allow this to happen. High activity of illegal trade and border jumping has become a security concern," she said.
Although some of the farms' owners were known, the governor said, the government would not hesitate to acquire their farms regardless of who owned them.
She said the government was also worried by the illegal trade in basic commodities such as mealie-meal, sugar, eggs, cooking oil and others which had created artificial shortages in Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwean government banned the export of basic food commodities to avert a looming shortage caused by panic-buying and hoarding.
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