Ministry of Trade & Industry suspends exportation of scrap metal

* All licences which were issued before this notice stand revoked and no export of scrap metal shall be entertained

* There is empirical evidence that those involved in the malpractice, sell the materials as scrap metal

* To fulfil their business requirements which is not in tandem with our national development agenda

By Duncan Mlanjira

Following the increased vandalism of infrastructure for Electricity Supply Corporationof Malawi (ESCOM); waterboards, telecommunication and the railway Ministry of Trade & Industry — in collaboration with the Ministry of Homeland Security — has suspended the exportation of scrap metal with immediate effect.

A statement from Secretary for Ministry of Trade, Christina Zakeyo says this has been done under the Control of Goods (Import and Export Licence) Regulations, 2020 to be initiated for 6 months in order to sanitize the scrap metal trade.

“There is empirical evidence that those involved in the malpractice, sell the materials as scrap metal to fulfil their business requirements which is not in tandem with our national development agenda,” says the statement.

“The general public is, therefore, informed that issuance of export licenses for scrap metals has been stopped forthwith and that all licences which were issued before this notice stand revoked and no export of scrap metal shall be entertained.

“Hence, the revoked licences are deemed null and void. During the 6 months export ban of the scrap metals, the two Ministries will do the following:

* Review the Second-hand and Scrap Metal Dealers Act of 1971 and develop regulations accompanying it;

* Conduct fresh registration of all Second-hand and Scrap Metal Dealers which will be done in collaboration with the Ministry of Homeland Security;

* Formulate rules and standard operating procedures for scrap metal business in the country; and

* Call upon the stakeholders to take note of this development and liaise with the Malawi Police Service on the next steps to be undertaken in terms of registration which according to law will be done by Ministry of Homeland Security through the Malawi Police.

For more information, the public is encouraged to contact:

The Secretary for Trade & Industry

P. O. Box 30366

Lilongwe 3

Malawi

Email: trademin@trade.gov.mw Tel: +265 1 770 244

With copy to

The Secretary for Homeland Security

Private Bag 331

Lilongwe

Tel: +265 1789 308

Inquiries may also be directed through the public relations officer (PRO) for Ministry of Homeland Security, Patrick Botha at patrick.botha@homesecurity.gov.mw / 0999190147 or PRO for Ministry of Trade and Industry, Mayeso Msokera at mayeso.msokera@trade.gov.mw / +265999150618.

The public was in total shock in March when they learnt that a man with a hearing disability was engaged by unscrupulous people to vandalize ESCOM’s overhead power transmission line in Dzalanyama Forest in Lilongwe worth K9.8 million — attributing the rampant vandalism of government infrastructure due to unlicensed scrap metal dealers.

ESCOM management also disclosed that this was not the first time for the portion of the 11kV Bunda overhead line to be vandalized in Dzalanyama Forest, saying the first case occurred in May 2022 when the vandals stole 3.1km portion of the line worth K36 million.

The saboteur had cut down eight wooden poles, stole six spans of aluminum conductor and line accessories while some 50 metres of aluminum conductor was recovered from the scene of the incident.

Thus the public took to social media to condemn the mushrooming of scrap metal dealers as one of the reasons for the increase in vandalism of ESCOM’s property while attributed the development as due to ESCOM’s strategy which allows customers to purchase their own materials for electricity connections, saying in the past one would not easily find these connection wires because it was only found with ESCOM”.

Last year, as the country kept experiencing power load shedding due to many factors that included loss of 130 megawatts at Kapichira Hydro Power Station due to Cyclone Ana, ESCOM also disclosed that they were losing an average of five transformers a month which cost around K4 million to replace.

In December last year, Ndirande Police arrested two people after they were intercepted in possession of 300m of ESCOM power lines wires valued at K900,000, which are suspected to have been vandalized in Lirangwe.

Reacting to this, Second Hand and Scrap Metal Dealers Association of Malawi partnered with the Malawi Police Service in anti-vandalism campaign to sensitise players to register their businesses with a purpose of ending the malpractice

At the launch of the campaign in Liwonde last month, the association’s chairperson, Patrick Jonathan told the media that vandalism of government infrastructure, like bridges and road signs, derails the country’s development efforts.

He said vandalism has been rampant in the country as many scrap metal dealers venture into the business without being registered by the government.

“Some people do not understand that vandalism of government property derails progress in development,” he had said. “Vandalism of property like road signs and bridges is on the increase because of non-registered delears. What is needed now is for the government to register the people who want to be scrap metal dealers.”