Zimbabwe slaps health inspection fee on inbound cargo

Zimbabwe has introduced
yet another fee for cargo
entering its borders.
In a communiqué sent to
the Road Freight Association
(RFA), and effective since
September 10, the Ministry
of Health and Child Welfare
requires all goods – whether
or not in transit – which
require health clearance to
pay an inspection fee.
The inspection of special
cargo that includes human
remains now costs $20,
while general cargo carried
on light trucks pays $15
and general cargo on heavy
trucks has to pay $25.
According to RFA
spokesman Gavin Kelly,
this is despite a meeting
between South African and
Zimbabwean authorities
earlier this year to address
exactly this problem.
“South African operators
remain unduly prejudiced
when crossing the borders
into Zimbabwe due to the
number of taxes, duties and
levies that are not imposed
on foreign operators coming
into South Africa,” he said.
“The fees, taxes or levies
are just introduced without
fair warning and do not take
the SADC protocol into
account.”
He said the RFA had set
up the meeting between
South Africa’s Cross-Border
Road Transport Agency
(CBRTA) and Zimbabwean
authorities that had taken
place earlier this year.
This was followed by a
multilateral summit in
Pretoria in August where
Zimbabwe was present.
“The South African
trucker just has to keep on
paying and new tariffs are
introduced all the time. In
August at the summit no-one
from Zimbabwe mentioned
yet another new tariff was
on the cards, but a week or
two later the letter arrives,”
he said. “These practices are
extremely questionable.”
The CBRTA maintains
that the only way to address
issues such as these is
through the equalisation of
charges across the SADC
region – a matter that SADC
itself has taken up.