BULAWAYO- Matabeleland South senator Nonhlanhla Mlotshwa (CCC) has voiced alarm in the senate over what she called a “punitive and unconstitutional” ZIMRA crackdown following a new treasury directive that orders automatic and permanent forfeiture of goods deemed smuggled, with no option to pay duty or regularise compliance. “This directive has far-reaching consequences for ordinary Zimbabweans, for traders and for the integrity of our governance system,” she said on November 26. Mlotshwa argued that the instruction introduces “an excessively punitive regime that risks criminalising citizens instead of fixing the inefficiencies at our border posts.” Small traders, women cross-border entrepreneurs and travellers making “innocent documentation errors” now face permanent loss of goods, she said.
She told the senate that ZIMRA appeared to have bypassed parliament on a policy shift “of this magnitude,” reducing lawmakers “to mere spectators while executive instructions alter people’s lives.” She said inland ZIMRA checkpoints – including those turning towns like Gwanda into “quasi-border posts”- were increasing opportunities for “harassment, extortion and abuse of authority.” “As representatives of the people, we cannot remain silent,” she said, urging the finance minister to explain the legal basis of the directive, why parliament was excluded, and what safeguards exist to protect citizens during the enforcement blitz. “Zimbabwe needs systems that work, not systems that punish,” she added. Rising on a point of nation interest on November 18, Mlotshwa condemned a ZIMRA checkpoint in Gwanda where travellers from South Africa have faced major delays, describing it as “an unjustified national burden” that is undermining economic activity.
She told the senate that ZIMRA had “quietly established” an “inland border post” where every vehicle coming from Johannesburg is stopped – sometimes for hours – effectively creating “a second border post” despite ZIMRA having full authority and resources at Beitbridge. “This raises serious concerns,” she said, citing duplication of roles, economic disruption, and long, unsafe delays for travellers, particularly women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities. Mlotshwa also criticised the lack of transparency, saying there has been no public communication about the legal basis, purpose or duration of the inland station.
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“Zimbabwe says it is improving the ease of doing business, modernising borders and reducing bottlenecks. Yet the lived experience tells a different story,” she said. She questioned whether ZIMRA has the authority “to effectively establish an unofficial second border post within the country,” adding that citizens cannot be cleared at Beitbridge only to be “re-cleared again in Gwanda.”
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