WEEKLY NEWS ROUND-UP

Monday

Security officials have intercepted a cigarette contraband worth an estimated R230 000 that was being smuggled into South Africa through an illegal crossing point along the Limpopo River. It is reported that the owners of the 85 boxes of Remmington Gold brand escaped after realising that they had been cornered by members of the national security task force along a footpath leading to the river.

Tuesday

Imports of second-hand vehicles more than 10-years-old from the date of manufacture on the day they enter Zimbabwe on or after April 2 are no longer automatic and now need specific import licences for each vehicle, with importers attaching proof of payment when applying for this licence. The same Control of Goods (Import and Export) (Commerce) (Amendment) Regulations, 2021 (No.9) gazetted on Friday also removes cement and sugar from the open general import licence, although specifically not sweets made of sugar, and so importers of these two commodities need an import licence for each incoming shipment.

Wednesday

A 22-year-old man from Sao Paulo, Brazil is today expected to appear at the Harare Magistrates’ Court answering to charges of smuggling 4,3kg of cocaine into the country with an estimated street value of more than $36 million. Guilherme Sodre Da Salvia was arrested on Monday upon landing at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport aboard an Ethiopian Airways flight with the cocaine stashed in a jacket.

Thursday

The new tobacco selling season opened yesterday with Government hoping that the industry cannot just survive at present levels but raise production to 300 million kilogrammes annually through the implementation of the Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Strategy. The selling season was opened by Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement Minister Dr Anxious Masuka at the Tobacco Sales Floor.

Friday

SADC will urgently resuscitate and capacitate its Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) in order to facilitate deployment in Mozambique, which is presently under siege from insurgents that claim to be affiliated to the Islamic State (IS), President Mnangagwa has said.