News / National
'Smuggling crippling industrial viability'
08 Jun 2017 at 07:08hrs | Views
POOR infrastructure along the country's borders has a crippling effect on local industry revival as it fuels smuggling, which compromises business viability, a legislator has said.
Chairperson for the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs who is also Makonde MP, Mr Kindness Paradza, said illegal imports defeat Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016.
SI 64 was introduced mid-last year to control importation of several goods that are being produced locally, as a way of refocusing attention on increasing production in local industries and helping create employment.
"The issue we discovered is that our borders are porous and therefore our effort as Government to implement SI 64 is being defeated by those people who are smuggling goods along Limpopo.
"We have been shown a number of pictures and illegal entry points which people use when smuggling and this affects the revival of local industry because local manufacturers are the ones who suffer," he said.
Mr Paradza said it was important for the Government to develop adequate infrastructure along the country's borders and make sure that illegal entry points were closed.
"The situation is similar along Mozambique border where we have more than 10 illegal entry points that people use to come with used clothes and this affects our local clothing and textile industry," said Mr Paradza.
He challenged local manufacturers to make sure that items listed under the SI 64 were made available at reasonable prices.
"Our own local industry must make sure that these items are made available at a reasonable price.
"The problem is that as soon as Government restricts these items our local industry sometimes hikes the prices and this does not help revive the local industry," said Mr Paradza.
Chairperson for the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs who is also Makonde MP, Mr Kindness Paradza, said illegal imports defeat Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016.
SI 64 was introduced mid-last year to control importation of several goods that are being produced locally, as a way of refocusing attention on increasing production in local industries and helping create employment.
"The issue we discovered is that our borders are porous and therefore our effort as Government to implement SI 64 is being defeated by those people who are smuggling goods along Limpopo.
"We have been shown a number of pictures and illegal entry points which people use when smuggling and this affects the revival of local industry because local manufacturers are the ones who suffer," he said.
Mr Paradza said it was important for the Government to develop adequate infrastructure along the country's borders and make sure that illegal entry points were closed.
"The situation is similar along Mozambique border where we have more than 10 illegal entry points that people use to come with used clothes and this affects our local clothing and textile industry," said Mr Paradza.
He challenged local manufacturers to make sure that items listed under the SI 64 were made available at reasonable prices.
"Our own local industry must make sure that these items are made available at a reasonable price.
"The problem is that as soon as Government restricts these items our local industry sometimes hikes the prices and this does not help revive the local industry," said Mr Paradza.
Source - chronicle
