All imported goods should be thoroughly screened

Government should be encouraged to carefully inspect and examine the standard of all imported products to ensure their safety before they reach their final consumers.

An online media website, The Namibian recently revealed that N$20 million worth of counterfeit alcohol was shipped from the United States of America (USA) through Dubai and Namibia enroute to Zimbabwe was recently destroyed at Walvis Bay.

According to the article, a consignment carrying 95 000 bottles of fake Johny Walker, Black Label and Smirnoff Vodka was detained in Namibia where the alcohol was thoroughly screened and the results indicated that it contained  potentially dangerous chemicals.

Firstly, Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) should ensure that all products, especially those that pose a significant public health threat are inspected at all the country's ports of entry.
Thus, if the goods are not safe for human consumption the products should be banned from entering in the country to save human lives.

Following Government's introduction of Statutory Instrument 64 (SI64) of 2016, which was promulgated to restrict importation of some products that have local equivalents in a bid to protect the local industry, some cross border traders had been illegally smuggling some of the banned commodities in the country.

Hence, ZIMRA should continue ensuring that all loopholes on smuggling are plugged to avoid entry of harmful goods in the country. Normally substandard products are brought in the country through these unofficial means.

In order to protect public health and prevent food borne diseases, the Standard Association of Zimbabwe, (SAZ), should focus more on preventing food safety problems rather than reacting to problems after they have occurred.

Thus, SAZ should implement a series of preventive control measures to enhance the safety control system for both domestic and imported products.

For instance, there is number of local bottle stores that sell alcohol which is known to be unsafe for human consumption. Bottle stores in Harare such as Penny Wise and Fiesta sell alcohol which is believed to be harmful for humans. Other types of unsafe alcohol that these bottle stores sell include Corona, Mexico, Grosh and Stella.

Some unlicensed people also sell these types of alcohol at their homes which they have illegally turned into shebeens.  It is sad that most people who sell such types of alcohol are only after money, overlooking the health issue.

On the other hand, the United States of America (USA), where the consignment was coming from should be questioned on their agenda of manufacturing such substandard and harmful alcohol.
People would certainly wonder why such alcohol was being shipped to Africa and Zimbabwe in particular.
The alcohol consignment exposed the USA's plan of destroying Zimbabwe and its hard working people. One can imagine the number of people that were going to be affected after consuming such alcohol and the health consequences that it was going to cause, had it been that the consignment was not destroyed at Walvis Bay.

It is through such incidents that people will applaud Government policies such as Buy Zimbabwe policy. Buying local products has an advantage that the products would have been manufactured here and satisfied by the SAZ before being sold on the market.