The Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Parks Tau says his department has established a task force to combat illicit trade.“The illicit economy is of particular concern to us, to the revenue services and the police. And we’ve had to respond by establishing a task force that is able to respond to these issues.
“We need to protect our economy from illicit activities and therefore promote industrialization. The example around cigarettes, the reality is that these are imported from other countries and they are not paying the import duties that are supposed to be paid. But they are also not quality-controlled. So it impacts our own industry, the control systems that we have in the country, but in many products, it’s also about the health and safety of our people as a country.