The ManicaPost
Luthando Mapepa Chipinge Correspondent
INFORMAL traders in Chipinge are making brisk business from smuggling cheap soft drinks from neighbouring Mozambique, The Manica Post has learnt. A check carried out by this publication last week showed that these informal traders
are using illegal entry points to smuggle soft drinks into the country.
The soft drinks also include Coca Coca products.
In a circular forwarded to all retailers in Manicaland by Mutare Bottling Company which this paper has in possession, it bars local retailers from trading with informal traders.
“It has come into our attention that there are a lot of Coca Cola products being imported into the country from Mozambique. These products are peddled by informal distributors and runners. We advise that these products are not part of our portfolio, therefore we discourage our customers from stocking these products in our coolers,” reads part of the letter written by the company sales and marketing manager, a Mr Ncube.
Interviewed informal distributors said the smuggled products were cheaper compared to the locally manufactured ones.
“Many retailers in Zimbabwe are coming to us inquiring about our soft drinks mainly Coca Cola products here in Mozambique. They tell us that they are cheaper compared to buying them in Zimbabwe. Since early July we are selling bulk of these drinks every day,” said Mr Samuel Makwiyana who operates a soft drink wholesale shop in Mozambique. A retailer who operates a shop in Chipinge who declined to be named, said despite Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016 which bans the importation of some products, it was business is as usually for them.
“Despite Government’s ban on importation of basic commodities in June many retailers are still smuggling these products via illegal ports of entry. We are making profits from these soft drinks we buy from Mozambique, that is why you see many retailers are shunning locally produced soft drinks,” she said.
