Fri, 23 Jun 2017 12:33:04 +0000
By NATION REPORTER
About 200 of the 400 haulage trucks carrying Mukula logs seized in February this years are reported to have been released after verification of their documentation.
The trucks from Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and some from within the country were impounded pending confirmation of the source of the wood they were carrying.
It has been reported that Namibian President Hage Geingob’s intervened – by personally telephoning President Edgar Lungu – to secure the release of the trucks.
Spokesperson in the Namibian Presidency Albertus Aochamub confirmed President Geingob’s role in the matter.
Zambia’s High Commissioner to Namibia Stella Libongani is also reported to have confirmed the latest development, saying “About 200 of those trucks impounded have been cleared, meaning that their documentation has been screened and it has been found that there was nothing wrong with what they are carrying.”
She added that about 170 trucks were still being screened to determine whether they have the required documents to continue on their journey and emphasised that none of the truck drivers were detained or arrested.
“The issue of screening the trucks is secondary. The primary issue here is the companies or dealers hiring these trucks to move their commodities. These dealers or companies are putting our citizens at risk, but, we are doing everything possible to ensure the impounded vehicles are released as quickly as possible,” Mrs. Libongani confirmed.
Commenting on the latest development, CEO of the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) Tarah Shaanika was sceptical, saying the chamber had heard the “clearance” story before.
“Every week we hear that the trucks will be leaving on Friday. Now they say the cleared trucks will be leaving this Friday. I guess we will just have to wait and see if this happens.”
The NCCI CEO added that he was extremely disappointed that it took the Zambian government six months to clear the trucks.
“This delay in clearing the trucks derails all the integration efforts in the region. It is not good for business to keep trucks for that long,” Shaanika lamented.
He went on to say some of the drivers of the impounded trucks have complained that while they had been cleared to leave they had not received the documentation back, which they needed to depart from Zambia.
Most of the impounded trucks were said to be transporting Mukula timber from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to Mainland China.
The NCCI has previously questioned the legality of the truck seizures, as the goods on the trucks were not harvested in Zambia but by businesses with valid permits operating in the DRC. The NCCI has also remained adamant that the Namibian truckers were simply transporting goods from suppliers to the clients and were never involved in the harvesting of the timber.
“We understand that [the harvesting of] the Mukula timber, which caused the impounding, is prohibited to be harvested in Zambia but not in the DRC. Our trucks carried timber from the DRC with valid documentation, which was inspected by Zambian customs officials and found to be valid and authentic.
“The Zambian authorities even sealed the cargo at the Kasumbalesa border post between DRC and Zambia, which under normal circumstances would be inspected again at the Sesheke-Katima Mulilo border post,” Shaanika said during a recent media briefing.
Local transporters whose trucks were seized have also complained that they incurred heavy financial losses, running into tens of millions in lost revenue
