Text:
http://www.mg.co.za/mg/news/98oct2/16oc-congo_trade.html
Trade rolls across
Congo's borders
Informal traders do brisk business across
the Zambia-Congo border despite the
ongoing war. In the words of one Zambian
trader: "When it comes to Congo, it is
always hard, but never impossible."
GREGORY MTHEMBU-SALTER reports
EWARE," reads a sticker, "you
may be swallowed by a pothole."
The advice seems apt as our taxi
bumps its way from the Zambian copperbelt
town of Chingola to the Kasumbalesa
Congolese border post.
At a roadblock, the policeman argues with the driver. The dispute rages until the policeman gives up. "He wants handouts from all of us but today he was unlucky," says the driver. The incident prompts a discussion about whether Zambian or Congolese officials are more corrupt. When Mobutu Sese Seko ruled Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), passengers agree, his soldiers were the worst, but they think Congo has improved since President Laurent Kabila took over. "Soldiers still ask for money," says one, "but not for so much, and you can refuse and still escape arrest."
The reason for the change, it seems, is that the soldiers are paid $100 a month. On the Zambian side, however, officials are lucky to get $50, and their pay is irregular, making their demands on civilians more frequent.
We pass a cyclist, his bicycle wobbling
dangerously from the weight of a large
maize meal sack. After stopping at
another roadblock, I look behind, but
he has disappeared.
"He has taken a forest path," I am told.
"That way he can sell his maize in
Congo duty free." A bag of maize meal
costs $25 in Zambia but up to $40 in
Congo, and is the informal sector's
favourite commodity. Avoiding customs
increases profit — and risk because of
the Congolese soldiers patrolling the
border.
At Kasumbalesa, the passengers
disembark. One has a number of jerry
cans filled with paraffin, which sells at a
premium in Congo. He has a long day
ahead — to avoid duty he must take in
only two cans at a time.
One woman has a sack of sugar, which attracts high duty too. "There is no problem, I've known these officials a long time," she says.
Sugar and cement are the main Zambian goods brought into Congo by major importers. Commodities scarce in Zambia, like cooking oil, are imported from South Africa or Zimbabwe. To avoid high Zambian import duties, consignments are often marked for transit through Zambia en route to Congo, but are unloaded in Zambia. The papers are taken to the border and stamped on both sides by co -operating officials, giving the impression that the goods have left the country.
For the informal sector, trickery mostly involves evading or befriending officialdom, and volumes rarely exceed a few sacks of basic foodstuffs at a time, maybe augmented by a bag or two of batteries or tinned food.
Apart from dollars, which miraculously remain in good supply in Congo for those with the right connections, the Congolese have little to interest Zambians. Cosmetics and designer jeans from South Africa or, somehow, the Far East, which are more expensive in Zambia than Congo, present opportunities for traders. Because of a recent massive tax hike on Zambian Coca-Cola, Congolese Coke is half the price.
Another recent export from Congo has been small arms smuggled out by refugees, but apart from this, the latest war has had little impact on commerce. Zambian importers/exporters complain that trade is not growing the way they had hoped before the war, but the informal sector had lower expectations. As one Zambian trader put it: "When it comes to Congo, it is always hard, but never impossible." -- Electronic Mail&Guardian, October 16, 1998.