Zimbabwe suspends import duty on basic commodities

The Zimbabwe government has temporarily suspended import duty on basic commodities in a bid to ease the chronic shortages facing the country. The Zimbabwean economy has been in crisis for some years now, characterised by runaway inflation estimated to be around 165 000 percent, high unemployment, chronic shortages of foreign currency, fuel and other basic commodities.

" As a stop-gap measure, the government has therefore suspended duty on basic commodities for a period of 90 days with effect from Monday 12 May," minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu told journalist.

Minister Ndlovu went on to say that this was no means a substitution of locally-produced goods as it was only a temporary measure. Funny how these people know that they have failed the people of Zimbabwe but they just don't want to admit that they have messed-up the economy.

" Our people (of Zimbabwe) have been surviving by importing some basic goods to augment local production which has been hampered by sanctions on our country which lead to shortages of foreign currency." said minister Ndlovu
He also said the government will continue allocating foreign currency to help local manufacturers to increase production.

Only goods imported for consumption will qualify for import duty exemption and these include rice, margarine, cooking oil, floor and toothpaste.

The problem with our government is that they do not accept that they have failed, they do not want to acknowledge when they have made mistakes. They would rather find someone to blame for their failures. Because of that they fail to find the right solution to the country's problems. The problem lies within the government it's self, that is why Zimbabwe is in a crisis it is right now. Not because of the sanctions they keep talking about.

Zimbabwe used to be able to provide enough food for it's citizens, and export some to other countries before the government destroyed all that through their mismanagement of resources and corruption by government officials.

- they sanctioned the chaotic and violent land invasions which destroyed the country's agricultural sector.
- through the indegenisation program, they gave production companies to greedy individuals who managed to destroy the companies and in the process destroy the lives of many Zimbabweans.
- How many ministers and some high profile Zanu PF officials have been involved in corruption cases and nothing happened to them. In fact some ministers were transferred to other ministries after looting all finances from another ministry.

(Read more on Corruption cases which destroyed Zimbabwe here)

I'm always interested in your opinions,