Times Of Swaziland: WHY WE ALLOWED ALCOHOL IN - BORDER OFFICERS

WHY WE ALLOWED ALCOHOL IN - BORDER OFFICERS
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BY SITHEMBILE HLATSHWAYO on 01/06/2020 08:27:00


MBABANE – “We allow alcohol into the country.” This statement was made by
customs officers stationed at the Ngwenya Border Gate. They mentioned that
tonnes of alcohol had been allowed into the country and continued to be cleared
for importation.
The officers said whenever declarations had not been queried, they allowed those
goods into the country, including alcohol which was not illegal.
According to the officers, they had not received any communication from
government or anyone to stop any alcohol imports.
The assertion by the customs officers has proven true as some of the
establishments, including Matata Tops, also confirmed to have received their
stock over the weekend.
Deliveries
Truckloads of liquor from South Africa entered the country through the Oshoek
Border Gate, with stock worth millions of Emalangeni. Information gathered was
that deliveries were made in various outlets in the country including Mbabane
Tops at Spar, Manzini Tops and Ezulwini.
These outlets are owned by Senator Tony Sibandze and Anita Dlamini respectively.
There are other outlets which received alcohol deliveries, but will not be named
as they could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Sibandze, in an interview, stated that relevant government structures were
informed about all matters regarding the deliveries.
The senator said all Tops stores in the country received deliveries from their
head office in South Africa.
Sibandze said the stock was in respect of deals (price negotiations and orders)
made prior to the lockdown in SA.
“Due to the pronouncement by SA president to relax the lockdown, the Spar head
office got approval to send the stock to their Tops stores,” said the senator.
He said the stock was declared at the border gate with Customs and the necessary
value added tax and duties were paid.
Sibandze said the stock was then cleared into the country in broad daylight,
hence the deliveries were made during the day.
Meanwhile, he said the COVID-19 regulations addressed the issue of local
distribution and manufacturing. He stated that importing alcohol was not a
breach of the regulations because the stock will not be sold until government
made the relevant  pronouncement in the future. “The decision not to sell the
stock is not because there was anything wrong done but we are responsible at
Tops,” he said.
Trade
He said social distancing outside the stores when they sold alcohol was a
concern to management, hence the decision not to open for trade.
On the other hand, the Matata Tops owner in Big Bend, Dlamini, confirmed that
she also received her stock on Saturday, adding that those were orders which
were placed before the lockdown was effected.
She explained that when South Africa entered the level three stage of the
lockdown and eased restrictions on alcohol, they released the stock as it had
been ordered. “We did not know that by receiving the stock, we were breaking
government rules,” Dlamini said.
She said
the goods were rightfully declared at the border gate and everything was done by
the book.
Following the recent importation of alcoholic beverages, the Ministry of
Commerce Industry and Trade has deployed security officers and inspectors to
ensure that no illegal distribution of liquor takes place.
According to Minister Manqoba Khumalo, inspections would also involve the
checking of the manufacturing date to ensure bottle stores that were still in
operation were not selling illegally distributed liquor.
Action
Khumalo said the ministry would take appropriate action against those found to
be violating the rules.
Further, he advised all outlets that received liquor from neighbouring countries
in the past three days to desist from selling their stock until government
approved the manufacturing and distribution of liquor.
The minister said they were currently in engagement with Eswatini Revenue
Authority (SRA) to forge a way forward on how best they could consistently
implement the COVID-19 guidelines.
Khumalo said they were investigating how the liquor was imported in defiance of
the partial lockdown measures.
He said they had already engaged Customs officials to alert them to be on the
lookout for such illegal activity. Khumalo said the ministry received disturbing
reports of the importation of liquor into the country, where a large consignment
made its way into the kingdom last Friday.
“The ministry wishes to remind liquor suppliers that the manufacturing,
distribution and wholesaling of liquor remains banned in Eswatini,” said the
minister.