Tomatoes, taxes, and the smuggler’s dilemma: Life along the Namibia-Zambia border

Tomatoes, taxes, and the smuggler’s dilemma: Life along the Namibia-Zambia border

Faced with high border taxes and strict regulations, struggling vendors along the Namibia-Zambia border resort to smuggling essential goods to sustain their businesses. A single mother of four says when she became a street vendor in 2020, she quickly learned that smuggling tomatoes and onions at ungazetted points of entry is the only way to make a profit. The 36-year-old street vendor, who spoke to The Namibian on condition of anonymity, says sm…