Zimra chasing the wrong shadows

THE announcement by Zimra last week that it was giving motorists who imported vehicles between January 2014 and June 2016 up to 30 September to approach its offices for verification of the vehicles is a poorly thought out decision.

If Zimra has discovered that there were some irregularities in the importation of cars why do they want to punish motorists as if they do not know their staff who cleared those vehicles?

Why should it be the duty of a person who imported the vehicle to come for verification?

Isn’t this similar to a neighbour who goes and borrows salt next door and when she adds more salt in her relish she then blames the neighbour for giving her the salt.

Today if you do not have enough duty at the border, Zimra impounds your car until you raise the money.

The fact that the car was cleared must not be the problem of the importer.

It was a Zimra official who calculated that duty and the importer paid as guided by those calculations.

As such if Zimra has investigated and found out that some cars were undervalued, then their systems must show them who calculated and who approved that duty and that is where they must go and start taking action.

Imagine those who bought cars and they are in the rural areas or far from Zimra offices.

Why should they incur expenses to approach Zimra offices when the issue is clear that if there are any problems then the problem was with the organisation.

Those who head Zimra must spend their energy dealing with their employees as they are the people who must answer if there were cars that were undervalued or of there are any that were smuggled but ended up being registered locally with the help of Zimra.

Meanwhile, the Industrial index closed the week on Friday lower at 98.84 points after dropping 0.80 points (0,80 percent) following losses in heavyweight counters.

Cement maker Lafarge lost $0,0500 to trade at $0,2200 as Simbisa retreated by $0,0099 to trade at $0,1201. Other losses were seen in Delta which shed $0,0081 to close at $0,6625, Econet lost $0,0050 to trade at $0,1950 and SeedCo eased $0,0025 to settle at $0,5675.

In the positive territory; PPC was up $0,02000 to trade at $0,6200 while the insurance giant Old Mutual rose by $0,0070 to close at $2,3255. Padenga added $0,0038 to close at $0,0940, Innscor was up $0,0030 to close at $0,1750 and TSL (TSL.zw) traded $0,0025 higher at $0,1500.

Week on week the industrial index lost 0.09 points (0,09 percent).

The Mining index lost 0.58 points (2,21 percent) to close at 25.72 points after Bindura went down by $0,0008 to close $0,0112. Falgold and Hwange remained unchanged on previous price levels at $0,0055 and $0,0300 respectively. RioZim, however, gained $0,0007 to close at $0,1710.

The mining index similarly lost 0.58 points (2,21 percent) compared to week ending 22 July 2016.