News / National
Second-hand clothes traders defy ban
27 Sep 2015 at 10:52hrs | Views
TWO months after Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa announced a ban on the sale of second-hand clothes, business is still thriving at Mupedzanhamo market in Mbare and several city flea markets where scores of vendors continue to sell heaps of the banned garments.
A visit to flea market sites in Harare last week by The Standard established that second-hand clothes are still the most trading commodity.
The way the second-hand clothes business thrives at Mupedzanhamo, Copacabana and Charge Office flea markets shows the recently outlawed trade in pre-owned clothing will be difficult to stop.
For as long as the market for the clothes is there, vendors will remain determined to import used clothes into the country, by whichever means. They said there were too many "holes" through which they would continue to bring in the clothes.
In July, when Chinamasa announced the ban in his mid-term fiscal policy review statement, he said it was going to be effective by August.
It seems enforcement of the ban on sale of second-hand clothes will be difficult given the porousness of the country's borders.
Last Tuesday Chinamasa told the National Assembly that government would not budge on its ban on the importation of second-hand clothes and was determined to stop it.
This is despite that MPs across the political divide opposed the ban on the premise that it would affect thousands of families in the country, whose only source of livelihood was the sale of the second-hand clothes.
Chinamasa said it would be hypocritical for him to say that he wanted to protect local industries, and yet still allowed the importation of second-hand clothes.
He said the textile industry in South Africa had collapsed because of the sale of second-hand clothing, adding he would not allow Zimbabwean companies to follow suit.
The ban of second-hand clothes sparked an uproar from vendors.
Zimbabwe Informal Sector Organisation (Ziso) director Promise Mkwananzi last week said vendors were not to blame for the porousness at borders and were trying to make a living through the sale of second-hand clothes. He said the economic hardships had made the system at borders prone to corruption, making it easy for vendors to import the clothes.
He said as along as government continued to fail to formalise the informal sector, the entry of second-hand clothes and their importation would continue.
A visit to flea market sites in Harare last week by The Standard established that second-hand clothes are still the most trading commodity.
The way the second-hand clothes business thrives at Mupedzanhamo, Copacabana and Charge Office flea markets shows the recently outlawed trade in pre-owned clothing will be difficult to stop.
For as long as the market for the clothes is there, vendors will remain determined to import used clothes into the country, by whichever means. They said there were too many "holes" through which they would continue to bring in the clothes.
In July, when Chinamasa announced the ban in his mid-term fiscal policy review statement, he said it was going to be effective by August.
It seems enforcement of the ban on sale of second-hand clothes will be difficult given the porousness of the country's borders.
Last Tuesday Chinamasa told the National Assembly that government would not budge on its ban on the importation of second-hand clothes and was determined to stop it.
This is despite that MPs across the political divide opposed the ban on the premise that it would affect thousands of families in the country, whose only source of livelihood was the sale of the second-hand clothes.
Chinamasa said it would be hypocritical for him to say that he wanted to protect local industries, and yet still allowed the importation of second-hand clothes.
He said the textile industry in South Africa had collapsed because of the sale of second-hand clothing, adding he would not allow Zimbabwean companies to follow suit.
The ban of second-hand clothes sparked an uproar from vendors.
Zimbabwe Informal Sector Organisation (Ziso) director Promise Mkwananzi last week said vendors were not to blame for the porousness at borders and were trying to make a living through the sale of second-hand clothes. He said the economic hardships had made the system at borders prone to corruption, making it easy for vendors to import the clothes.
He said as along as government continued to fail to formalise the informal sector, the entry of second-hand clothes and their importation would continue.
Source - the standard
