Vegetable smuggling on the rise
Pini Bothoko | Tuesday April 26, 2022 06:00
Last December, government decided to ban some vegetable imports in a bid to force local food retailers to buy vegetables from local farmers but efforts to meet the national demand are falling short.
Police along the borderline are unable to keep up with the rising number of vegetable smugglers who continue to find ways of bringing the perishables into the country despite the ban.
This can be attested to by Ramatlabama Police Station commander, Superintendent Zibani Mbisana who said they are currently investigating a case in which two taxi drivers were arrested for possession of two combis full of onions near Ditlharapa village on Friday night.
He stated that following a stop and search by the police the duo failed to account for loads of onions suspected to be smuggled into the country from South Africa.
“The duo was found in possession of loads of onions. They had removed chairs from the two combis and filled them up with onions. The suspects were heading towards Gaborone when their journey was interrupted by the police,” Mbisana said.
“We have since handed the suspects to BURS {Botswana Unified Revenue Service} who have charged them with a P5,000 fine and confiscated the onions.”
Mbisana revealed that the illegal importation of vegetables remains a concern as they continue to arrest and charge people for smuggling perishables every week.
He said that this shows that the demand for vegetables is high as people continue to smuggle them despite the ban.