“Zimbabwe is amongst the African countries that were
affected by Cyclone Idai, which caused a trail of destruction that affected
humans, animals and infrastructure. The President of Zimbabwe made an appeal to
individual corporates, civic society and international community to provide
assistance to the affected communities, mainly in Chimanimani, Chipinge and
Bikita.
“The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority administers regulations,
which give relief on duties on imported goods donated by international
organisations and to associations and organisations in Zimbabwe involved in
charitable or welfare, in terms of Section 103 and 124 of the customs excise
(General) regulations published in Statutory Instrument 154 of 2001,
respectively.
“Qualifying goods should be free for distribution to people
in need. Interested organisations are encouraged to take advantage of these
rebates provided for in the cited sections of regulation in order to reduce any
burden of duty payments at this time of need,” said ZIMRA.
The authority said goods that qualify for exemption include
passenger-carrying vehicles and goods-carrying vehicles, while second-hand or
used motor vehicles are not covered by the waiver.
“Goods that qualify, all goods provided are fully donated,
vehicles such as passenger type, commonly known as sedans and stations wagons,
passenger-carrying vehicles such as buses, minibuses and other goods carrying
vehicles.
“The rebate does not apply in the following circumstances —
second hand or used motor vehicles, road tractors, new clothing, new shoes and
new bed linen, all foodstuffs except where the Minister has directed the
Commissioner-General to grant a rebate,” said the tax authority.
Meanwhile, the Government says there is no politicisation
of food aid in the affected areas.
Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister
Monica Mutsvangwa and her Local Government counterpart, July Moyo, confirmed
this.
Minister Mutsvangwa, who is also Senator for
Mutare-Chimanimani Constituency, said there was no need to segregate because
the targeted beneficiaries faced similar problems.
“The cyclone affected everyone and so no one is being left
behind in relief aid distribution. Everything is being coordinated in a
transparent manner and accountability is our hallmark.
“I am a member of the inter-ministerial committee
overseeing the Cyclone Idai relief programme and so far we have met ambassadors
accredited to Zimbabwe, the donor community as well as the civic organisations
to thank them for the overwhelming response we got in mitigating the effects of
the cyclone.
“In all the meetings we are calling on anyone who wants to
witness the distribution of all the donated goods to come forward.”
She added: “It seems some individuals want to sow seeds of
divisions among Zimbabweans after realising that everyone from individuals,
corporates and the international community had come together in our hour of
need.
“They want to score cheap political mileage by claiming
that relief aid is being politicised. All donations go through the Provincial
Administrator’s office in Mutare where they are registered before being taken
to World Vision warehouse. The Department of Social Welfare is involved in the process.”
Minister Mutsvangwa said since most of the areas were still
inaccessible by road, they had set up distribution command centres near
villages in dire need of assistance.
“Our roads are still in a poor state and we have
distribution centres at Wengezi, Skyline and Silverstream. From these centres,
the food is being airlifted to most critical areas.” Herald
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