Published: 17 December 2017

SOUTHERN African Development Community's Informal Cross Border Traders (ICBTs) have called on their governments to introduce flexible policies to enable them to play a role in the economic development of their countries.

Participants at the two-day Southern Africa ICBTs conference held in Bulawayo recently said there was a need for governments to introduce informal traders policies so as to eliminate the socio-economic and political challenges as well as reducing various import taxes which restrict them from participating effectively in turning around the economies of their countries.

The participants included representatives from various ministries, non-governmental organisations and informal traders representative from the Sadc countries as well as the trading bloc's secretariat.

Presenting points raised during group discussions on how creating economic opportunities and incentives could promote informal trade, Mr Kelebone Khabo pointed out that reducing import tax was the panacea towards curbing corruption at border posts.

"Import tax is very high in the Sadc region. In Zimbabwe, import tax is 40 percent and in Botswana it's about 12 percent and this makes the cost of doing business for informal traders expensive. Informal traders contribute about 41 percent of the GDP.

Hence, they are stakeholders and have a right to demand the reduction of taxes. Reduction of taxes will eventually lead to the curbing or reduction of rampant corruption at border posts as traders will be able to pay the taxes and not bribe officials," said Mr Khabo.

Ms Gracious Mandiza from the Institute of Developmental Studies at the National University of Science and Technology said women in ICBTs play a major role in the growth of the economy though their contribution is overlooked.

"These women in ICBT have a valuable contribution into the economy in Sadc, but they are largely unrecognised and in most cases ignored. If we look at the institutional environment you find that the Sadc region wants to promote social, economic and political integration, yet the Agenda 63 and AU policies promote inter-Africa formal trade, but silent on informal cross border trade. Even the Sadc protocol doesn't speak on the provisions of ICBTs, yet it's dedicated to eliminating illicit trade in communities," she said.

ICBT has empowered women, who have become active players in economic production.

According to USAID report 2016, women constitute 70 to 80 percent of traders in Malawi. In the past women were delegated to the domestic sphere because economic production was believed to be a male domain, however, due to economic hardships faced in the region women are forced to be active economic players. Their participation in cross border trade is a strategy for self employment, poverty reduction and wealth creation.

ICBT is a highly feminised sector encompassing 68 percent of women in Zimbabwe, who are the main victims of socio-economic and political challenges.

UN women revealed that 3 000 women had sole power to make decisions on how the money is supposed to be used.

Ms Mandiza said there is a need to promote trade pacts within Sadc countries such that opportunities are availed for women in cross border trading and to ensure that they are recognised as significant economic contributors.

"At the end of the day we want to see the sector being formalised, whereby they are given quarters to supply certain goods to the hospitality industry or any other tourism sector they would want to contribute to," she said.

Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association co-ordinator Mr Michael Ndiweni said the conference served to promote dialogue on the prevalence of harassment of informal cross border traders.

"We have observed overtime that our membership face a number of challenges when they embark on their business, especially when they are crossing borders. They face harassment from the port of entry, where they are harassed by revenue authority officials, immigration officials and security agents such as the police who solicit for bribes.

"Sometimes they offer sex for their goods to be cleared. This convening, therefore, brings together not only Zimbabweans, but also participants from various Sadc region countries, who have come together to bring solidarity towards combating the harassment of cross border traders. At the end of this conference we want to have a campaign that is implemented in various Sadc countries with the aim of completely eliminating harassment of cross border traders," he said.

Participants at the conference also said there was a need for vendor licence charges to be reduced and called on governments to build proper infrastructure for informal traders upon consultations with potential customers on the alternative sites they would prefer traders to operate from.

The participants further stated that there was a need for transparency at financial institutions offering loans to cross border traders so as to avoid abuse of funds.
- online

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