The Zimbabwean embassy in South Africa on Friday denied a looming ban on food imports into Zimbabwe, but said permits will be required to import bulk foodstuffs for resale.
”There are no new regulations coming into effect on August 1 pertaining to this subject as has been pronounced by various media. It’s business as usual,” said ambassador Simon Khaya Moyo in a statement. ”The Ministry of Industry and International Trade and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority advise that there is no change of policy and that no ban has been imposed.”
However, people or businesses wanting to import bulk foodstuffs for resale should first apply for permits or licences from the ministry, he said.
Moyo said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had contacted the Ministry of Industry and International Trade to verify media reports that the Zimbabwean government had banned food imports.
Earlier this month, a media report said the Zimbabwean government would ban the import and export of various goods, among them groceries, for resale or disposal without a permit.
According to that report, the importation of goods such as beef, butter, cooking oil, milk, cheese, sugar, tea, wheat flour, ice cream, fertiliser, cotton lint, and hides and skins without a permit would be outlawed with effect from August 1.
The exportation of meat, millet, milk, poultry, sorghum, soya beans, sunflower, tea, vegetables and wheat would also be banned, said the report in the Zimbabwe Independent. Families would be allowed to import goods worth $250 a month for domestic consumption only.
The article said this was meant to kill off cross-border trade in basic commodities that had largely kept shops supplied in the absence of locally manufactured goods.
On Friday, Moyo said existing rules and regulations on quantities of personal goods and foodstuffs to be imported duty free, as well as quantities subject to payment of duty, will continue to be applied. — Sapa