PMs SPLIFF

MAY PM SMOKE OUT ALL

… And not leave the ‘once influential’ bootlickers matches

By your loving Cousin

Ye Mzala I am happy for now…there are less stories on confisticated trucks transporting cigarettes, there are now no attacks on senior customs officials and the court wrangle on unpaid customs duties have decided not to feature in our daily news bulletins.

While being happy, I am bit wondering of why such stories are not featuring in our media, maybe government has won the battle of cigarette trade with those who are not willing to pay customs duties or it is because the traders have become so sophisticated that no one can detect their movements.

I just pray and wish that no one in the media industry colluded with the traders and decided not to report anything regarding the nabbed cigarettes carrying trucks.

Whatever reason which has resulted in the silence, I believe my cousin deserve to know that a classified documentation last year discovered that most of the smuggled cigarettes have all along been smuggled into and through Swaziland were from Zimbabwe.

As most of my unemployed friends have preferred to smoke the cheap ‘bus rank lose sticks’ this has led to my conclusion and well read information that some of the cigarettes originate from China and arrive at the ports of Mozambique as goods destined for either Mozambique or Zimbabwe. The cigarettes coming from China are known to be predominantly counterfeit. A few consignments are still distributed within the country thus easily accessible from boSibali at the country’s main bus ranks.

Still being a certified dreamer, my voiceless starring just told me a story I once heard before that Smuggling is committed by use of long haulage trucks, most of which are registered in

South Africa or Mozambique. Although most of the smuggling syndicates are dominated by foreigners

(Zimbabweans, Mozambicans, Chinese and South Africans) there is widespread use of

drivers of reputed trucking companies on one hand and Swazi businesspersons on the

other.

As one would have read in the country’s media that most of the drivers caught by law enforcing agents trying to smuggle the cigarettes into the country were of Swazi, Mozambican or South Africans origin who generally know about the smuggling, especially those that have their trucks loaded but are requested not to declare anything.

A law abiding citizen like The Dreamer believes that the drivers are persuaded and paid to have their trucks loaded with contraband. The origins (registration) of the trucks used depend on the companies

affected. Some are Mozambican, most Swaziland and some South African.

In my recent dream I just saw a well known South African company which had a contract to transport sugar from Swaziland to Mozambique and their trucks and their have been used to smuggle cigarettes back into the country.

It is not a hidden fact that one former prominent businessman and absconding legislator was recently tempted to join the bandwagon and used his once influential status to intimidate government officials who the gang felt were a treat in the smooth flow of cigarette trade. However unconfirmed reports have suggested that he has since been dismissed from his role due to the increase of trucks nabbed by the Prime Minister appointed Task Team and members of Umbutfo Swaziland Defence Force.

With my minimal education your cousin is not at liberty of drawing lines on the bonded warehouses operations but I smell a rat on how government allows them to operate freely and easily continue to operate despite being found on the wrong side of the law more than a couple of times.

One of the classified findings of one of Southern Africa reputable research bodies it has been discovered that From Zimbabwe, using the Beira corridor, cigarettes are transported to Mozambique.

They are transported to Maputo where they are temporarily warehoused and reprocessed

for smuggling into and through Swaziland. This entails conniving with customs

officials in Maputo for processing the necessary documents that may falsely suggest that

a different type of commodity would be transported. On the Mozambican side the

syndicate will have bribed customs officials to stamp the transit documents before

departure for Swaziland. At the exit point (border) as well, there will be bribed police and

customs officials to let the trucks through.

On the Swaziland side the process is fundamentally the same yemzala. While customs officials are the leading enforcement agency at ports of entry, it is alleged that often smugglers bribe police officers as well to abate the problem of confrontations between customs and the police that has already resulted in consignments being impounded.

Once the trucks go through, there would be customs officers at the local depot (warehouses) to process and stamp the documents on arrival in Swaziland, that is, where such consignments have been co-mingled with other imports.

The research body which work directly with SAPRCO has discovered that in terms of use or abuse of trucks from the major trucking companies, concerned trucks usually transport other goods on their way to Mozambique from either South Africa or Swaziland. On their way back, they are generally supposed to be carrying no baggage and in most cases they are supposed to rush back to bases in Swaziland or South Africa to transport other consignments. It is on these trips back that the truck drivers collude with cigarette smugglers to load their trucks with cigarettes and smuggle them through the borders. This can only be possible through conniving with customs officials at border

posts who facilitate the passage of the trucks without subjecting them to intrusive

searches. Some trucks purport to be carrying other goods and invoices are tendered to

that effect. However, such invoices would only be meant to deceive officials and avoid

searches.

Once in the country, the trucks may travel all the way through Swaziland and into South

Africa using the same tricks. Alternatively, the contraband may be offloaded and split into

smaller consignments and smaller vehicles used to move them, a small portion for

distribution in Swaziland and the rest for further smuggling into South Africa.

As the media once reported contraband may be moved to different trucks several times. This is done in case law enforcement might be on the trail. The contraband is eventually loaded onto those trucks with easier access to RSA. To this extent, several drivers are involved and would be aware of what

they are involved in. The group sizes or number of people involved will depend either on

how much the kingpins are willing to pay or on the value of contraband at stake.

With the above I am praying to the honourable Prime Minister to smoke out such crimes because it diminishes the revenue that government generates from trade and if government finally realises his dream of setting up a functional Revenue Authority, it should surely capture all import transactions and should follow that collection so that it could be achieved with all revenue due.