A distance of about 28km is all it takes for someone from Mutare, Zimbabwe, to go to Mozambique’s nearest town, Manica.
news in depth:BY VANESSA GONYE
This proximity as well as the porous border linking the two countries have made the illegal smuggling of goods, including drugs easy, a vice that has become Mutare’s biggest source of livelihood.
With the Covid-19 pandemic taking its toll on the country since the end of March, a new wave of smuggling medical drugs has emerged and gained a foothold.
Sources say smugglers have increased supplies of the popular cough mixture Broncleer, owing to the flu-like nature of Covid-19. Broncleer is now being sold to people presenting signs and symptoms of Covid-19.
The sources in Mutare confirmed the practice did not stop during the strict Covid-19-induced lockdown that took up to five months to be relaxed.
Self-confessed smuggler Simon Chisvo said medical drugs, especially Broncleer, were big business and worth the risk that they took travelling to Manica and Chimoio to get the contraband for which they would neither pay duty nor declare at the border.
“We only stopped bringing goods into the country during the first 21 days, but we had to provide food for our families. Therefore we decided to take the risk ourselves, going to Mozambique through the bush as people were increasingly demanding the products,” Chisvo said.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
Smuggling of medicinal drugs is costing the national Treasury millions in potential taxes.
Manicaland province police spokesperson Tavhiringwa Kakohwa confirmed the proliferation of smuggling during lockdown, from April to date.
“Our border is porous, providing room for such smuggling, but we are doing our best to make sure such cases are dealt with,” Kakohwa said.
“So far we haven’t come across cases of medical drug smuggling, but we cannot rule out their existence.
“We strongly warn perpetrators to stop the illicit deals because the net will close in on them one day.”
Unavailability of proper medical resources in government-run facilities has also presented a loophole for the smugglers who are maximising on the government’s inability to provide drugs, leaving the black market to thrive.
Besides Broncleer, the smugglers are also bringing in antibiotics and painkillers including Amoxicillin and Brufen, which are now available even on the streets.
Some of these are prescription drugs which should not normally be available over the counter.
A woman selling medical drugs on the streets, who preferred to be referred to as Agnes, said antibiotics and painkillers were a cash cow and demand increased with the coming-in of Covid-19.
She said she bought her stuff from Mozambique through smugglers who brought it for her at a “fair price”.
“I sell a packet of 10 pills at $1.50 or $2 each, depending on the customer and I can sell over a box per day,” she said.
Another smuggler, who gave his name as Jimmy Madhobhi, said drug smuggling from Mozambique paid well especially at a time the country had relaxed Covid-19 restrictions.
He said: “I go several trips per week, bringing in smuggled goods into the country, with my main area being medical drugs and supplies charging up to US$15 per trip to sellers of medical drugs in the street; the trade is very risky even though we travel in less than an hour.”
Madhobhi makes an average of US$2 700 per month and nearly $32 000 per year, money which is not accounted for in the national budget because they are not taxed.
Madhobhi could not tell the exact number of fellow medical drug smugglers. Many other goods are smuggled through the border, making it difficult to know which type of trade one is in; he, however, said they could easily be in their hundreds.
A report by ZimTrade revealed that last year only US$90 million was realised in government revenue from imports, with a huge disparity in exports which amounted to US$354,3 million proving that illegal importation of goods including medical drugs is prevalent.
The disparity, from Zimtrade’s point is that many smuggled imports are unrecorded and no taxes are paid, it’s just taking money to Mozambique, bringing back the goods through undesignated points.
Edgar Munatsi, a member of Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights and a public health expert, said smuggling and black-market sale of drugs have huge consequences on consumers of the drugs which are normally mishandled from the time they are smuggled to the time they are consumed.
In a telephone interview, Munatsi said: “There are many factors making street sales of smuggled medical drugs a problem. The first involves safety and quality of the medicines.
“Medicines are supposed to undergo quality assurance checks to ensure safety and adequate dosage.
“When people buy medicines from the street, they will be self-medicating and are likely to take them for wrong reasons and for longer or shorter periods than necessary and exposing themselves to danger.
“For example, the consumption of antibiotics for conditions for which they are not indicated is contributing to development of antimicrobial resistance.”
“Antimicrobial resistance is a major public health problem and a threat to the existence of humanity as many affordable drugs will be rendered useless and a lot of treatable conditions will have no cure in the near future.”
“Even if smuggled medicines would have come from reputable manufacturers, their shelf life and efficacy is largely compromised by poor storage as we see a lot of them exposed in the sun,” Munatsi added.
Due to Zimbabwe’s current economic state, characterised by closure of manufacturing companies in the health sector among other sectors, smuggling has increased as the perpetrators try to match the demand that has risen, taking advantage of loopholes surrounding government’s failure to tighten control at ports of entry, as the unchecked illicit flows with its eastern neighbour show.
l This story was produced by Vanessa Gonye. It was written as part of Wealth of Nations, a media skills development programme run by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. More information at www.wealth-of-nations.org. The content is the sole responsibility of the author and the publisher.
