South Africa on Monday, 12 June, began destroying 20 million illicit cigarettes smuggled into the country through its porous border with neighbouring Zimbabwe.
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) said that the contraband of 20 million cigarettes is valued at more than US$2.3 million.
The cigarettes were smuggled into the country between February and May this year and were seized over several operations. SARS said:
The destruction of the illicit and smuggled cigarettes (at the Beitbridge border post) is likely to last a few days…
Illicit trade robs the government of much-needed revenue and destroys industries, exacerbating unemployment, poverty and inequality.
The South African reported that in January, British American Tobacco South Africa (BATSA), said that it had been forced to cut around a third of its workforce since 2020 due to the rising illicit tobacco trade.
BATSA estimated that “illicit cigarette trade accounts for up to 70 percent of South Africa’s total cigarette market”.
The ban on tobacco sales by the South African Government during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has been blamed for the rise in the illicit cigarette trade.
Last month, South African Police Services’ Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), arrested a driver for smuggling more than 500 cartons of illicit cigarettes.
The cigarettes were being transported in a gas tanker truck on its way to the central town of Potchefstroom.
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