Swazi crackdown nets Customs cheat

SWAZILAND – An SA man was jailed and faces some serious prison time if convicted of customs fraud at the apparent start of a crackdown on undeclared goods at Swaziland’s border posts. Last week, Johannes Isaiah Ndala of Devon was arrested while attempting to sneak R70 000 worth of goods through the Mananga border post in northern Swaziland. He was denied bail at a court hearing because he is South African and thus considered a flight risk (given the close proximity and porous nature of Swaziland’s border with SA). He remains incarcerated until his trial next week. The Swaziland Customs Authority told FTW it was making good on its threats to go after tax dodgers. “They’ve been rattling sabres for some time, but now Customs seems to mean business,” said the operations manager of a Matsapha-based overborder courier service. Non-declaration or underdeclaration of goods is commonplace, he said. What is new is the involvement of the country’s police, who are required to collar tax dodgers but have not been much in evidence in the past. Police have said that other priorities have not allowed them to direct resources to customs operations at the borders. However, increased cross-border traffic between Swaziland and SA during the Fifa World Cup has found more police stationed at border posts. Police will beef up their forces at the key Oshoek border post, the main artery to and from Gauteng, in preparation for 24/7 operations at that location. Lack of police availability has hobbled previous efforts to keep Oshoek open around the clock. Customs officials said the crackdown was part of a wider initiative promulgated by Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini to clean up corruption in government and other sectors.