As mentioned by Rob a few days ago, cigarette smuggling can be seen as a reaction to high government taxes. South Africa, with its excise duties on cigarettes accounting for over half the price of retail prices, is no exception. With an extremely weak economy next door in Zimbabwe and the prospect of converting cartons of cigarettes obtained there into South Africa’s much stronger currency, it is no surprise that the border crossing point of Beitbridge is a popular thoroughfare for this illegal activity. But there are risks, as a few would-be smugglers have discovered of late.

Three people were arrested over a week ago as they tried to enter South Africa with 221 cartons of cigarettes hidden in a truck carrying coffee; the driver had met the two others earlier and agreed to take them and their contraband with him. And then a few days ago two South African immigration officials, along with a Zimbabwe man, were also caught on the Zimbabwe side in their department of home affairs truck, with 412 cartons of cigarettes and some pieces of ivory inside. They had been returning some Zimbabweans who had tried to illegally stay in South Africa, itself partly a reaction to the high taxes imposed on citizens of Zimbabwe by their government in the form of rampant inflation and repressive conditions.

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