As night falls the petrol smugglers in the Maitengwe village on the Botswana-Zimbabwe border get to work. Botswana villages that are relaxed by day now buzz with activity, as old unroadworthy vehicles roar down the dusty access roads that parallel the frontier. Closer to the border, you will find a number of donkeys—each loaded with jerry cans.
The trade is quick, with petrol exchanged for food, goods, and cash. For the daring ones who are keen to cross the border, the profits are huge. By sunrise, you could be forgiven for thinking that the place is deserted and uninhabited as the smugglers coil into their shells waiting to re-emerge under the cover of darkness.
While Botswana hosts a number of crime markets such as wildlife trafficking, drug trafficking and illegal logging, fuel smuggling has grown to become big business. While not much is said about fuel smuggling in Botswana, reports show that this dark trade is detrimental to the country’s coffers. While statistics for financial revenue lost to fuel smuggling are vague, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime – which is an international non-governmental organisation dedicated to seeking new and innovative strategies and responses to organised crime – notes that fuel smuggling in Botswana is attractive to organised crime groups. In their 2021 Global Organised Crime Index, they note that Botswana fuel smuggling results in as much as “20 million litres of fuel going undeclared every month.”
However challenges relating to fuel theft and smuggling are not limited to Botswana. Globally, it is estimated that fuel smuggling is a big business worth over an estimated US$140 billion annually as a result of adulteration, theft, fraud, tax evasion and subsidy abuse. This is approximately between 7 and 9 percent of global production. With the European Union (EU) having sanctioned Russian oil exports, the effects of the crisis have echoed all over the world, even Botswana.
The disparity in gasoline prices among southern African countries means smugglers can make huge profits. It is no surprise that fuel smuggling – which mainly occurs in border towns along the Botswana-Zimbabwe border at or near Maitengwe, Matsiloje and Ramokgwebana villages – has increased over the past few months. Smuggling across these two countries is not new, with an active illegal trade in both directions that includes cigarettes, foodstuffs and people.
A former law enforcement agent who spoke to this publication on condition of anonymity indicated that the people involved in fuel smuggling are assorted and divergent lot. “They fuel smugglers usually tend to operate along the borders such as Ramokgwebana village, Matsiloje and Maitengwe; buying and selling in local markets. While they might characteristically seem small and locally situated, they can be part of complex networks,” he says. Based on his experience as a law enforcement agent, he realised that within these networks, there are different sets of people performing defined functions such as the buyers, the drivers, the loaders and the leaders.
In Botswana, fuel smuggling is not regarded as an existential threat to the state, in the same way that drug and arms trafficking may be. This is perhaps why their response has mainly been more noise than action.
However, fuel smuggling can have serious effects for those countries it touches. Estimates show that Botswana could be losing millions of pula in revenue every month due to undeclared fuel. There are now fears that as the Russia Ukraine war drags on and as fuel prices increases and remain volatile, fuel smuggling and theft will increase.
A commentator who spoke to this publication indicated that the illicit trade in fuel is a challenge in Botswana. “Botswana is a relatively small economy so the consequences of fuel smuggling include revenue losses for the government running into millions of Pula in terms of fraud and tax evasion. There is also the possibility of threats to the competitiveness of the legal trade as stolen fuel is traded at a lesser price than legitimate fuels,” says Ronald Dintle.
Furthermore, he indicated that proceeds from this illicit trade are sometimes used to fund other crime markets, which poses a risk to Botswana’s internal security and economic growth.
“How Nigeria’s fuel smuggling networks grew and became powerful and sophisticated should give Botswana pause,” he says, adding that these smugglers have to be dealt with when they are still small to avoid them growing to become “highly organised, transnational networks.
An increasing number of countries in Africa are now using fuel marking technology which is a method of authentication used to combat theft, smuggling or adulteration of petroleum products. Fuel markers thwart dealers from grade switching and guarantee proper levels of chemical addition are present. With the energy market volatile, Botswana must curb the illicit commerce and close the taps on the nefarious fuel smugglers and ensure that perpetrators of this dark trade face the wrath of Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS).
