It's a hedge against defaulters,
writes Martin Rushmere
NEVER MIND Y2K compliance, Zimbabwe's customs department has problems with December 1 compliance.
A change to pre-payment of duty that was scheduled to take place on December 1 has been postponed indefinitely for unknown reasons, and payment will continue to be made after goods have been cleared.
No official reason has been given by Customs, but it is strongly suspected that pressure from businesses with strong political connections to the government is partly the cause.
With post-payment, it is very easy for some importers to avoid payment altogether, said a freight specialist. They have friends in the ruling party and merely refuse to pay. But it is very much more difficult to refuse to cough up before clearance, because Customs can impound the goods.
Pre-payment was in force before the customs department installed its ASYCUDA computerised system in 1991. This had to be changed while software problems were sorted out - which they have been.
Says Rhett Hill, chairman of the Shipping and Forwarding Agents Association of Zimbabwe: We have been working very closely with the department to bring in pre-payment, and have been sounding out our members since August. Our concern was security - that payment would go to the right place and right account, in view of the fact that agents will hold payment accounts with the department.
We do not know what the reason is for the postponement, nor when the changeover will come in.
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