Small to medium entrepreneurs (SMEs) operating at Mupedzanhamo Flea Market in Harare says the government is losing thousands of dollars in potential revenue to due to high import duty on second-hand clothing.
BY MUNESU NYAKUDYA
The SMEs told MPs touring the market on Thursday that thousands of people were resorting to smuggling as they could not afford to pay the high duty on goods such as second-hand clothing.
Mupedzanhamo chairperson Charles Marufu said the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority was charging duty of $5 per kilogramme of clothing which was more than the cost of buying the product.
“We end up smuggling because we cannot afford to pay that kind of money,” he said. “We propose that they charge $10 to $20 per clothing bale including the value-added tax. And if they do that, they can get a lot of money from SMEs who resort to bribing border officials to help them smuggle their goods into the country.”
Another vendor, Trip Hadzikamwi, said the government should set up a bank for SMES.
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He said banks were failing to provide them with foreign currency to import goods.
“The bank can also help us when we need to exchange our bond notes into foreign currency. Banks are refusing to give us foreign currency. We need foreign currency because we buy our products out of Zimbabwe,” Hadzikamwi said.