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*ZNCC Urges Govt To Destroy Illicit Goods*

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The Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) says it is fully behind the Government’s policy to destroy all illicit goods especially cigarettes on the spot.

The Minister of Finance and Investment Promotion Mthuli Ncube recently said that the Government was introducing Anti-Illicit Trade Policy Measures to curb the illicit trade in cigarettes.

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Organised crime syndicates allegedly comprising prominent politicians and business moguls have been linked to the smuggling of cigarettes into South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The illicit trade not only costs the two countries a significant amount of money but is also now viewed as a threat to national security because dealers fund criminal gangs that engage in lawless activities.

ZNCC chief executive officer Christopher Mugaga told Business Times that the destruction of illicit products will ensure that they will not find their way back into the market. Said Mugaga:

> Regarding the destruction policy, we fully support and urge the Ministry of Finance and Investment Promotion to follow through with its promise to draft and issue a Destruction Policy for illicit goods.

> The conclusion of this policy is essential in enabling the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority [ZIMRA] to destroy all confiscated illicit cigarettes, thus ensuring illicit goods do not find their way back into the market.

> In working towards achieving these very important milestones to curb illicit cigarette trading, we are committed to assisting further by inviting experts on production counters and associated supply chain verification systems, to help marry the current ZIMRA audit process with the new complexity of monitoring and auditing of production counters.

In its submissions to the Finance Minister, the ZNCC suggested several measures that can be put in place to combat the illegal cigarette trade. It said:

> The current system can be enhanced further by making it mandatory for all cigarette manufacturers to install cameras and close-circuit televisions at all production lines, which will provide real-time information on production volumes to the ZIMRA.

> In addition to the above measures, we propose that ZIMRA should analyse the operational data of each manufacturer to fully understand and benchmark the costs of production in the industry.

> Furthermore, the Revenue Authority should monitor the recommended selling prices of each brand for the purposes of calculating the ad valorem excise component.

On 12 June 2023, the Customs Division of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) said he had begun to destroy illicit and smuggled cigarettes, valued at R43 million, at the Beitbridge border post.

The SARS Deputy Commissioner, Johnstone Makhubu, said a huge volume of cigarettes was set to be destroyed, in total 2000 master cases, or 20 million cigarettes.

More: Pindula News

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