Used cars flood Zim ahead of import ban

From Thupeyo Muleya in BEITBRIDGE

THERE is congestion at Beitbridge Border Post following a sudden influx of used vehicle imports, mainly from Japan, as car dealers and individuals rush to beat the June 30 deadline set by Government to ban the importation of vehicles over five- years-old. Sources at the border post say 15 car carriers used to be handled per day, translating to 101 vehicles.

The number has since increased in the last two months to between 30 and 40 car carriers per day, translating to about 250 cars per day.
However, Transport, Communication and In-frastructure Development Minister Nicholas Goche yesterday indicated that the Government was reviewing the June 30 deadline.

He said Government wanted to hold further consultations with relevant stakeholders. Minister Goche said the Government was re-viewing the implementation of regulations banning the importation of left-hand-drive cars and those over five-years-old previously set for June 30.

In an interview yesterday, the minister said he would soon issue a statement over that matter. “We are reviewing the whole implementation of the regulations and I think that is what people want to hear at the moment. I am going to issue a statement after consultation with relevant stakeholders,” he said.

The regulations were set in September last year and were due to become effective in December. However, they were deferred to July this year and as the deadline approaches, it has caused panic among vehicle importers.

It is understood that car imports which pass through Beitbridge have increased in the last two months with Zimbabwe Revenue Authority officials reportedly struggling to clear the backlog at the vehicles duty calculations section. Unconfirmed reports also indicate that car dealers here and in Durban were also contemplating reducing prices to clear their stocks before midnight on June 30.

Zimbabwe is one of the major importers of used Japanese vehicles in Southern Africa. Car importers have raised concern over the pace at which excise duty for their vehicles was being calculated. Some importers had to wait for at least four days for them to know how much they were supposed to pay as duty, a process that used to be done in a day.

Early this year, it was reported that the num-ber of cars coming in through Beitbridge rose in January this year to 3 150 compared to 2 310 in January 2010. Official figures from Zimra indicated that the number of vehicles imported had gone up significantly since January 2011 due to the fact that many importers delayed delivery last year to benefit from the new rates of duty introduced in January this year.

“A total of 3 150 vehicle submissions were ma-de for the month of January 2011 compared to 2 310 vehicles imported in January 2010,” said an official who declined to be named. Zimra officials at Beitbridge who preferred anonymity said the upsurge in vehicle imports from Japan started two months ago.

They claimed that they expected the number to increase. One of the officials said: “On average, we handle about 15 car carriers per day, translating to 101 vehicles that we clear per day, but in the last two months we have been clearing between 30 and 40 car carriers.

“That has also put a lot of pressure on the vehicle clearance department as we have to battle with the duty calculations. Under normal circumstances, clearing a car should be done within 24 hours but now some have to be done between two to four days and we expect the figure to increase in the next six weeks. People have been panicking on what will happen after June 30 and are rushing to get their vehicles into the country before the stipulated deadline.

“In most cases, our peak periods for arrival of car carriers are Thursdays and Fridays, where we clear 160 or more cars per day.” The official added that officers from their department were equal to the task adding that at any given time there were between 700 and 800 cars awaiting clearance at the Manica bonded warehouse per day.

It is feared that the number might drastically increase soon. “We are also worried that if something is not done at the earliest possible time, we will have cars piling up at Manica warehouse as people would want to bring their imports in and clear them later,” said the official.

Cars with an engine capacity of between 1 000 cubic cm and 1 500 cubic cm now attract excise duty of 25 percent, Value Added Tax of 15 percent and a surtax of 25 percent for vehicles that are more than five-years-old. In a recent interview Zimra’s Commissioner responsible for corporate and legal affairs Ms Florence Jambwa said the rise in imports meant the Government was now making more money than it did from car import taxes.

Mrs Jambwa said Zimra faced the challenge of cars piling up at the vehicle workstation and they were in the process of moving all clearance processes to the Manica Bonded Warehouse. Last year, Zimra moved the clearance of all imported vehicles from the Customs yard in a bid to decongest the border post. This was because some importers dumped their cars there after failing to pay duty. She also indicated that they were working towards reducing the time importers spend at border posts.