Swazi Customs officers accused of drunkenness, corruption

MBABANE – Swaziland customs officers have been depicted as thieving drunkards by MPs at hearings held last week by a Swaziland Parliamentary Portfolio Committee. A prominent cabinet minister attending seemed to agree. “There is a culture of corruption in the customs department,” said Minister of Finance Majozi Sithole, whose portfolio incorporates the Department of Customs and Excise. MP Petros Mavimbela complained about inebriated customs officials at border posts. “Businessmen (importers and exporters) are harassed because someone who’s not sober is bound to behave in a disorderly manner. I invite the minister to one day come with me to the border to see what I am talking about,” he said. “I thought we had diligent and committed Customs officials, yet all we have are drunks,” replied finance minister Sithole after hearing MPs’ testimonies. Sithole promised to look into the sobriety of customs officers at the nation’s border posts. But problems larger than tipsy goods inspectors were exposed at the hearings. The finance minister himself provided testimony about collusion between customs officials and cigarette bootleggers. Illegal contraband destined for destruction or public auction disappears, and suspicion falls on customs department involvement. “In the past confiscated cigarettes illegally brought into the country were auctioned, but now the seized material never finds its way to auction. By the appointed date it is nowhere to be seen,” Sithole said. Instead, the contraband is sometimes seized twice from dealers. “There is no way that the cigarettes could find their way back to dealers without the involvement of Customs officials,” Sithole said. This week, a Manzini businessman implicated in cigarette smuggling was arrested for “stealing back” R3.6m in cigarettes he previously smuggled into the country, which were seized by the Customs department and kept at a government warehouse. Arrested along with the alleged smuggler were two Customs and Excise employees and a government security guard.