Zim ban hammers informal traders

Although the loud, and
also, unfortunately, almostinevitably
violent protests
about the Zimbabwean
import ban have somewhat
faded, the objections remain.
And the people suffering
the most, according to Alwyn
Nel of Kingfisher Freight
Services, are the informal
cross-border traders.
These trade activities,
he added, involved “huge
volumes” exceeding those
handled by commercial
traders.
Their livelihoods, in the
form of imports of everything
from packs of Cremora to
wardrobes and kitchen goods,
have been seriously restricted
by a permit system with
which few of them can comply
or afford.
“The commercial guys
obtain permits, but the
informal traders can’t afford
to go all the way to Harare to
get them,” Nel said.
Not that the commercial
traders are not sharing in the
problems of this restriction of
imports under the Statutory
Instrument 64 of 2016,
which are vital to the
vastly undersupplied
Zimbabwe market.
“Prior to the imposition of
the new restrictions you just
loaded a truck and away it
went,” Nel told FTW. “Now,
you need to be assured of the
importer having a permit for
those goods. Or they might
only have permits for part of
what they want. So we can’t
send loads until we’re sure
that they have the sufficient
number of permits as well.”
Also, there’s a ripple effect
all over the region. “Some
products were available in
Zimbabwe and were being
bought off the shelf and
taken back to Malawi and
the like,” he added. “But, in a
lot of cases, we can’t refill the
shelves because the goods are
on the restricted list, and this
trade is also fading.”
SA’s political answer to
this was a condition laid
down by minister of trade
and industry, Rob Davies.
Government gave Zimbabwe
three weeks to reopen its
doors to SA exporters – with a
deadline on Tuesday (August
24). He added that this should
be resolved before a Southern
African Development
Community (SADC)
meeting of trade ministers in
Botswana later this month.
Gerhard Erasmus,
Trade Law Centre (tralac)
associate, pointed out the
reason behind the growing
gap between SA and Zim
in finding common ground
on which to resolve their
trade-related differences.
“The reason,” he said,
“is that SADC, the trade
arrangement to which
they both belong, has been
stripped of its potential
to provide a rules-based
framework for resolving
differences and ensuring
predictability.
“Ultimately private firms
and consumers have to foot
the bill.”
Erasmus also highlighted
talks between the two
ministers of trade. “But,” he
added, “they put forward
arguments which can
only be resolved through a
neutral and objective dispute
settlement mechanism.
“This cannot happen.”