‘Over-imposition’ of Zimbabwe ban causes headaches

The ban on SA-origin animal products being imported into Zimbabwe is definitely being strictly imposed, according to Moira Ambler, business development manager at MSC Logistics. She confirmed the statement by Lin Botha (See page 4) that even goods in transit through SA to Zimbabwe are being stopped. “We had two 40-foot and one 20-ft container of foreign milk powder straight off the ship in Durban stopped at the Beitbridge border post, and the trucks turned back,” Ambler told FTW. They were actually stopped on this side by SA customs. “But our customs have to get clearance from the Zimbabwe authorities before they start the crossing.” And the truck drivers waving pieces of paper saying that the goods were in transit through SA had no effect. It was still a no-go, said Ambler. And this blatant overimposition of the ban has given MSC Logistics another tricky problem. “We have a shipment of personal effects bound from its overseas source to a country’s embassy in Zimbabwe,” said Ambler. “On the manifest it declares that one of the things in the container-load is a small tin of milk powder for personal use.” This gave the company three choices. Not to send the whole shipment until the ban was over, or could be circumvented; the costly exercise of de-stuffing and searching the whole container-load to find the offending product (and risk possible claims for damages if things go wrong); or ask the embassy to get special clearance for the shipment. “We’re still waiting for a decision from the shipper on which option to choose,” Ambler added.