The Internet Society of Zimbabwe is a brave institution. They are calling for something that will make them unpopular with many. The Internet Society, Zimbabwe Chapter is calling for an additional tax on all gadget imports – an electronic waste tax.
The rationale behind the call for the tax is solid. They argue that Africa is a dumping ground for electronic waste. How? We are importing too much second-hand equipment, so we are getting equipment close to its use-by-date.
This means as Africans, we have to bear the cost of disposing of said equipment. The same argument was made regarding cars, leading to a ban on 10-year-old cars.
We are buying this old equipment that has a few years of use, and yet we do not have the requisite recycling or disposal infrastructure to deal with it when the time comes. This leads to old gadgets filling up landfills.
This waste then contaminates our water bodies and underground water sources.
The West, where we get the equipment from gets to avoid this problem of e-waste, a little, with each ton of second-hand gadgets they ship to Africa.
What the Internet Society is calling for is an e-waste tax. It would be collected on the import of electronic gadgets, whether they are new or not.
They want it styled like carbon tax, where in Zimbabwe, motorists have to pay 3 cents for every litre of fuel they buy. Those funds are then used to counter the negative effects gasoline has on our environment.
With the e-waste tax, funds so collected will then be used to set up a recycling plant in Zimbabwe. Proper e-waste management centres. The cheap, second-hand equipment we buy will then end up there, and not in our water.
Good idea but…
To me, this all sounds good but I have concerns. Firstly, I am acutely aware of the power of the smartphone in particular. It opens so many doors for the underprivileged, giving them access to financial services amongst other things.
Now, any tax that adds to the cost of acquiring those gadgets would mean slowing the adoption of those gadgets. In the end, the e-waste tax would help widen the digital divide.
The same applies to other non-smartphone gadgets whose cost would increase with the tax. However low the increase in cost.
Then comes the worry that the funds collected will not even end up going towards a recycling plant. Our government does not have a good track record, we have seen too many government employees find ways to appropriate funds meant for public use.
The last of my worries is that it does not appear we actually have the means to collect e-waste to take to the recycling plant, even if it was built.
Right now we have PET bottles and pizza boxes strewn around our cities. City councils, EMA, the government, and whoever else is to blame, is not up to the task.
How then will the e-waste go to the recycling plant our tax money would have funded? I don’t know. There may be reforms but I’m not holding my breath.
The Internet Society announced that they are lobbying for this tax at the recently held Transform Africa Summit in Victoria Falls.
The Internet Society is aware of these challenges. They have been carrying out research on e-waste for some time and we shall find out exactly what they found in due time. For now, you can find out more on their thinking on this matter in the article linked below:
What do you think though? Would you be in support of such an e-waste tax? Would it have the desired impact? Let us know in the comments section below.
18 comments
The Internet Society is seeking relevance They want to be seen to be doing something and maybe even get in on the action administering the funds somehow Zim is already way over taxed yet we don’t see the results – look at the roads and look at Rural Electrification yet there are specific taxes for those
For innovative ways to encourage recycling of smartphones, Samsung in the UK right now is giving out a 150 GBP to anyone who trades in any smartphone in any condition when they purchase a Samsung S 23.
The Internet Society Zimbabwe in this case shows a lack of imagination. They just want to line up their own pockets pretending it’ for the environment. So where are the studies and consultations to justify the monstrous solution definition. Are these folks even competent to carry out the investigation to define the problem in Zimbabwean context and the investigation of competing solutions in order to say that adding to the tax burden is the reasonable way forward.
Unlike first world countries we repair stuff here until the gadgets have 3 or 4 lifetimes
I bet my last Bond note that these are ZANU PF officials wanting to raise for the government as usual and drive expensive cars from the levies yet doing nothing towards the piles of discarded gadgets.
ZINARA has roads littered with potholes yet they are collecting road tolls. HIV AIDS patients have no drugs yet we have a levy towards their cause.
It makes no sense to impose a tax on a gadget that one is failing to afford in the first place and there is no local industry to protect from these taxes…
Biko, you no go lie. Since wen do we hav an Internet Society? I see wahala woh, I no go comply
Lol! No rest for the wicked, or the poor! This sounds more like a cash grab than a good faith effort to address the e-waste issue. First thing they should have proposed was a tax break for the new wave of repair friendly devices like the Framework laptops and new Nokia phones. Same with mobile devices with three years or better of support at time of import. They should also incetivise establishment of local owned private recycling companies by effectively zero-rating the import of the highly specialised equipment and consumables needed to meaningfuly recycle modern electronics. These are just baby steps. The number of potential policy options that could be taken BEFORE taxing us to death are myriad, but instead, the first instinct was to get their pound of flesh!
There’s a level of entitlement in Zim. Those that get free brand new cars from government as MPs and Ministers legislate that the poor should pay more tax on the used, but affordable, cars they import.
The same probably applies here, I presume the members of the ISoZ can afford new gadgets and possibly get them at work at no cost to them. Immune to any impact of their lobby, they smile believing they have made a difference.
Sadly, taxes still won’t fix the problem, Carbox tax doesn’t clean the air and e-Waste tax won’t empty the landfills. The second hand cars and gadgets will still be bought en-masse, because that is what the masses can afford.
You can’t recycle something without proper equipment or measures …..this matter needs to be debated on and come out with formidable plans that do not affect the under privileged,like you have noted in the artict Sengere
Article
BAD Idea 👎
1 – The funds will definitely be misappropriated
2. Since when has electronic waste become a problem please give us a break ska university students tozo afforder malaptops how
3. How about advocating for establishment of manufacturing plants not these measures to make electronic gadgets inaccessible?
This internet society is nothing but a bunch of rubbish, I don’t see how taxing Electronic gadgets will fix this issue, if its money they are after why don’t they start an E-waste recycling company.
These folks at Zimbabwe Internet Society are on a money grab agenda. Why are they suddenly starting at a tax increase agenda when they are alternative approaches to achieve recycling objectives that are not adding on the tax burden? They start with lobbying without the consent of the people. They haven’t even tried any other approaches or alternatives and hezvo places pa tax increases. Zimbabwe Internet Society, please seek psychiatric help if you honestly care about Zimbabwe’s environment.
Excuse us! This organisation is the most worthless useless organisation I have ever heard of. E waste is not a problem here. The problem in Zim is sewage everywhere in the Capital city. First make sewage treatment plant that function. Pure sh*t water being fed to people, cholera everywhere. No medicine in hospitals. Roads look like egg crates,. We have more serious issues to deal with. We can’t just start getting overtaxed for problems we don’t see
Got to keep that sweet sweet money from those foreign donors flowing.
So in order to justify the money they get they have to once in a while show some relevant results. So they thought up this clever idea never mind that if implemented it would add an additional burden of the ordinary people who will be forced to pay this tax!
The idea has to be grandiose this will impress the donors and make them keep sending money to the organisation. After all how else are they going to pay for trips to Victoria Falls and other perks.
So people have no shame or conscience at all including the grifters at Zimbabwe Internet Society. What a bunch of losers
Its that Mangwana dude, one of the new ZEC Commissioners. He was (or could still be) the Zim country rep for Internet Society of Zim and yes, I bet it’s all about seeking relevance.
Good idea bad timing