Mzembi asked to probe govt officials frustrating visitors

Some concerned citizens have written a letter to Tourism and Hospitality Minister Walter Mzembi asking him to p[-robe the issue of government officials who are frustrating visitors into the country through applying stringent regulations some of them drawing large sums of money from the visitors.

The visitors letter posted on Facebook by one Tanai Forest states that it is such a pity that there are government officials who do not encourage visitors to Zimbabwe.

"Like the senior lady at the Victoria Falls customs office. We were traveling through Zimbabwe spending a few nights and obviously spending money in this country. We were asked to pay a deposit for inverters going through to South Africa for repair. This surprised us as there is no duty or vat on solar goods," said the visitors in a letter.

"Not wanting to delay our journey we paid the deposit of $370. We then inquired if the refund would be in cash, the customs official could not guarantee the refund would be in cash on our exit. We then requested that we be refunded to return to Zambia and go to South Africa via Botswana. The customs official then explained that the money could not be refunded as it had to be banked although it was sitting in the cash box!"

Forest said they asked her if it was not possible to cancel the receipt and return their money.

"She said it was not possible and that we should exit Zimbabwe between 8am and 5pm and we would be refunded. As we had now spent 3 hours at Vic Falls border post we decided that instead of exiting at Plumtree we would exit through Kasane nearby and get our money and continue through Botswana," the visitor said.

"When we exited at Kasane the customs officer there explained we could only get our refund from Vic Falls as all deposits were kept in the safe and returned once goods have been exited and proof supplied. This is a surprise as one officer is saying they are kept in the safe to be refunded in return and the other is saying it needs to be banked."

Forest said they will definitely be returning to Vic Falls to claim their refund and they will see who is telling the truth!

"If this is how they treat visitors no wonder nobody wants to visit Zimbabwe," Forest said.