It may be illegal, but Zim beer puts food on the table

Florence*, a Zimbabwean woman from Musina, used to make a decent living from selling fruit and vegetables before the Covid-19 pandemic hit last year. Since then, and even after the first lockdown restrictions had been lifted, she has not been able to make money as she used to.

For Florence and fellow Zimbabweans such as herself to provide for their families back home, they now use illegal routes to get to Zimbabwe to buy Chibuku – a Zimbabwean brewed beer - for reselling in Musina.

Florence (33) joined her husband, who worked in Musina, in 2013. Unfortunately, they got divorced and Florence decided to stay in the country and sell fruits and sweets.

When South Africa was placed under lockdown level 4 recently and the selling of alcohol was prohibited, the Zimbabwean women realised that this was an opportunity to make a bit of extra money. “I might go to Zimbabwe twice a week, depending on the demand for beer. There was hardly any beer in Musina, and this was our chance to start a brisk business. Both Zimbabweans and South Africans love this beer,” said Florence.

Travelling to Zimbabwe and back takes her almost three hours and she manages to smuggle 15 six-packs of beer at a time.

“I have to wake up very early to travel to Zimbabwe through illegal routes. There are a group of men who call themselves Zalawi. I hire two of them to help me carry the beer back to South Africa to a certain point where I know the police will not quickly intercept,” she explained. “Each Zalawi carries 6 six-packs of beer on their heads. I carry three and pay them R60 per pack, per trip.”

Maidei* has been in South Africa since 2014 and has also resorted to this illegal beer trade to put food on the table. “Lockdown opened another form of living for me, though it is risky. My friends and I have to study army and police movements very closely. If these forces are not in the area, we quickly slip out to buy beer from Zimbabwe and come back. The whole journey can take about two hours,” said Maidei (45).

She said that they had barely avoided running into the police a few times. “When we see police coming towards us, we really have to leave everything, run away and escape being arrested. This will be a loss,” said Maidei.

This form of trade has now become a means of living for many Zimbabweans residing in Musina. A six-pack of Chibuku is bought in Zimbabwe at R60 and resold in South Africa at an average of R150. Their clients are both South Africans and Zimbabweans.

For them, business was booming under the level 4 lockdown, with a litre of beer selling for R35. When the lockdown restrictions were lifted, however, their price was reduced to R25 per litre. Nearly all of them, Limpopo Mirror was told, are now able to send money and food back home.

*Not their real names

Date:08 August 2021

By: Bernard Chiguvare

Bernard Chiguvare is a Zimbabwean-born journalist. He writes mainly for the online publication, Groundup.

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