Story by Tendai Munengwa
17 companies will not participate in the tobacco marketing season this year after their applications were turned down by the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) for failure to follow set guidelines.
The board wielded the axe on 17 tobacco buyers who failed to meet legislative requirements, while others voluntarily pulled out pending investigations into alleged illicit tobacco deals.
Acting TIMB chief executive officer, Mr Emmanuel Matsvaire said, “I can confirm that of the 30 applications by Class A tobacco buyers this marketing season – eight failed to meet buying requirements. Then we also received eight new applications of which four of them also failed the legislative test. So, all in all, 12 A class buyers applications have been rejected by the board.”
Prominent firms whose applications were turned down include Bullion, Munakiri Leaf Tobacco, InterAfrica Tobacco and Bigway Investments.
On the other hand, five tobacco contractors have voluntarily pulled out from buying pending investigations into their alleged illicit deals by the tobacco regulatory body.
These include Mbaluki, Golden Ban, Huruyadzo, SaveMox and Dynamic.
The TIMB’s move brings to 21 the number of companies which have been booted out of the system since the arrest and suspension of the board’s chief executive officer Emmanuel Gudu and two officials on allegations of mismanagement.
