Demise of Beitbridge duty-free shop Beitbridge Border Post duty-free shop
Beitbridge Border Post duty-free shop

Beitbridge Border Post duty-free shop

Thupeyo Muleya
It used to be the shop providing relief for travellers going through the Beitbridge Border Post, offering food, toiletries and freebies to the public. Today, the Beitbridge Border Post duty-free shop has degenerated into just another building. Criminals, pickpockets and touts jostling for “customers” to help cross the border have taken over the building, but all their activities have nothing to do with the business within the complex.
The building now resembles a disused warehouse due to neglect with empty and dusty shelves.

On a lucky but rare day, there will be water, soft drinks or some biscuits or maybe some bus tyres, a few bottles of wine and a few packets of potato chips.
In essence you will find products normally found in a tuck shop.
The shop has become more associated with touts and other wheeler dealers from the border town.

This group of people uses the back of the shop to either smuggle goods into the country and at times as passage for illegal immigrants going to South Africa or those entering the country.

The perimeter fence at the back of the duty-free shop has become an express route for banned products such as genetically modified potatoes, onions, tomatoes and flea market wares.

In essence the shop has lost its value as a multi-million dollar investment, with business grounding to a halt.
Workers at the shop have opened a “shebeen” for touts, wheeler dealers and other conmen operating within the border post.

The situation is in contrast to the other side across the border where business has shifted with travellers making a beeline to search for goods in South Africa.
The local duty-free shop used to be a centre of attraction for many travellers and Beitbridge residents since opening in 1995, with people coming from all parts of the country and even South Africa to get local products.

The wheels have completely gone off the rails and one can hardly get documents such as prospectus on Zimbabwe’s tourist resorts and other tourism promotional facilities.

Duty-free stores are retail outlets that are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travellers who will take them out of the country.

Further products that can be sold duty-free vary by jurisdiction, as well as how they can be sold, and the process of calculating the duty or refund the duty component.

However, some countries impose duty on goods brought into the country, though they had been bought duty-free in another country, or when the value or quantity of such goods exceeds an allowed limit.

Such shops are often found in the international zone of airports, and train stations but goods can be also bought duty-free on board airplanes and passenger ships.
Products that used to be popular at the Beitbridge duty-free store include Mazoe orange crush, curios, perfumes, toiletries, safari clothing, bracelets, hand bags, beer and outdoor equipment for tourists.

An employee at the shop who preferred anonymity said the shop was being leased to an Asian identified only as Mr Lee.
“We have been working for Mr Lee since 2004 and he has not set foot here. He hardly pays our salaries. As we speak, he owes us three months’ salaries.

“You can see for yourself that the shop is virtually empty and we hope government can act on this matter and give the shop to those who are productive.
“One of our managers often stocks the shop with local soft drinks and mineral water,” said the worker.

There are three workers at the shop who earn an average of $200 per month.
On one of the walls in the shop hangs a shop licence in the name of Zidlee Enterprises Pvt (Ltd) trading as Annafranes MayPell on Stand 746.

Efforts to locate the shop manager and Mr Lee were unfruitful in the past two weeks.
There are growing calls for the shop to be leased out to another private company or vibrant investor.

The acting chairman of the Beitbridge Business Association Nkululeko Milidi said they were worried by the goings on at the shop.
“The challenge is that it is not clear who you need to see if one wants to operate within that complex. As businessmen, we are very concerned that such a huge investment has been put to waste.

“We have a number of able people who can fully exploit that shop given the opportunity. Any serious person cannot fail to run such an institution especially with set guidelines from either the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) or any regulating authorities,” he said.

Milidi urged government to attend to the duty-free shop as a matter of urgency.
He said there were a lot of people within the border town who were willing to take up space inside the duty-free shop.

An immigration officer at the border post said the situation at the shop was a cause for concern.
“We have arrested a number of illegal immigrants trying to use that area to either enter Zimbabwe or South Africa. We are working with other security agents in rounding up criminals at that complex. It is sad that such a building has been turned into a white elephant. We are appealing to government to intervene and find a serious investor,” he said.

“Travellers and people who work around here have nowhere to buy food and they end up relying on illegal vendors whom we constantly round up as well.”
Three tuck shops which used to operate within the border post were closed in 2007, leaving travellers and workers in the area at the mercy of illegal vendors for food and other related products.

Some illegal vendors said they were happy that the duty-free shop was not working and that they wished the situation remains that way for a long time.
One of the vendors, Mai Tatenda, who sells eggs, soft drinks, water in recycled containers and airtime vouchers, said their business was very brisk because of the high demand for food by travellers who spend long hours at the Zimra search bays.

“The situation at the duty-free shop is a blessing to us though we have to play cat and mouse with the police or immigration officers everyday. We are offering the missing link at the border,” she said.

The police arrest close to 30 people for loitering and illegal vending within the border on a daily basis.
Beitbridge Border Post is the busiest port of entry in the country where an average of 16,000 people pass through on daily basis with 2,100 buses, 35,000 passenger vehicles and 15,000 trucks accessing the border every month. This means that the shop could be useful especially to tourists and other travellers from north of the Zambezi River.

Occasionally, school children from South Africa and tourists from that country come in with high hopes of buying souvenirs but always leave empty-handed.
It still boggles the mind why those leasing the shop have been oblivious to the rot and have been failing to lure businesspeople and tourism consultants to showcase their wares at the shop.

It remains to be seen if this multi-million dollar investment will be put to good use and live up to expectations.

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