Zimra to streamline operations

Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) Commissioner-General, Faith Mazani has unveiled a programme to streamline operations and plug financial leakages, as part of measures to curb corruption and improve traffic flow at Beitbridge Border Post.

Mazani told journalists in the border town on Monday that Zimra will also resort to sealing and inspection of commercial goods for domestic use at destination points, while seals will be used to monitor haulage trucks in transit.

She said the organisation will also continue to upgrade its Automated System for Customs Data (Asycuda), boosted by recently acquired servers and new staff members to facilitate the ease of doing business with the neighbouring countries.

"Border facilities at Beitbridge are not in the right state for the volumes we have at this port and we are going to reorganise that," she said.

As part of the 100-day rapid results programme, the separation of traffic will be done with the provision of roads and bays for various traffic categories.

She admitted there was corruption by officers due to exposure and her office will work to plug the loopholes.

"We will make use of the ISO certification of clients to streamline our operations and inspect goods at points of delivery.

"This will require us to have more seals and follow up vehicles at their points of delivery once they have been sealed at Beitbridge," she said. "We will also use these seals to monitor trucks in transit and our scan system, though old will be useful because once a truck is scanned we seal it and track it."

This method will cut the time the trucks are held at Beitbridge.

"Decongestion of the border will also reduce undesirables. We have proliferation of stakeholders in the border due to crowding and we wish to thank the Zimbabwe National Army for removing undesirables from the border post," she said.

Mazani said her office will also attend to staff accommodation, which was deplorable, singling out a customs and excise flat called Bluehouse that is unkempt.

Ultimately, Mazani said her department will create a single window clearance of goods to minimise patronage of the border post by agents and improve efficiency.

Customs and excise at Beitbridge has over the years been criticised for slow service, delays and duplication of roles that have seen transit transporters sidestep the country via Botswana.

Mazani hoped the new approach will attract thousands of customs experts who left the country to rejoin the organisation.