Where Cannabis (mbanje/dagga) gives off its presence by a heavy smell thereby attracting the attention of law enforcement agents BronCleer (Bronco) is odourless but sweet.
BronCleer is banned in Zimbabwe so its possession will be a criminal act. Section 29(1)(a) of the Medicine and Allied Substances Control Act [Chapter 15:03] prohibits and criminalise the possession thereof.
Bronco, the street lingo of the drug in Zimbabwe, is a cough syrup that contains a drug called Codeine. Codeine is a painkiller but highly addictive. The high experienced when one takes the drug is caused by the alcohol in solvents used in preparing the cough syrup.
BronCleer is manufactured under licence by Adcock Ingram in South Africa and it is an over the counter drug.
To understand how this banned cough syrup drug ends up on the street of Zimbabwe’s cities a brief look at its distribution will be examined.
The distribution of Bronco involves an intricate web- a symbiotic but disparate trans-border crime syndicate.
The kingpins are Zimbabweans, either based in Zimbabwe or South Africa. Since Broncleer is an over the counter drug, the kingpins cover their tracks by engaging retail pharmacies in South Africa to source the drug for them at Adcock Ingram. The retail pharmacies can order any quantity of the drug because it is their business and the drug is an over the counter prescription. For a fee, read bribe, the pharmacists will raise false invoices and give the kingpins their contraband.
The kingpins either make direct arrangements with cross-border truckers or they rent out industrial warehouses were they cache their contraband.
This syndicate is so massive that I am of the opinion that some members of the police service are also involved. High volumes of the contraband are transported via cross-border haulage trucks and cross-border buses but rarely have we heard that any such trucks or buses have been intercepted along the way except at the ports of entry yet they mount high level road blocks along the way.
The drug kingpins pay the truck or bus drivers to transport and smuggle the drug for them.
For the bus drivers it is a matter of bribing the border officials for a safe passage because the bus is thoroughly searched.
The big deal is at the haulage trucks. The contraband will be mixed with the legitimate load. Neither the truck owner nor the goods’ owner will be aware of the shenanigans of the truck driver. If the truck driver is successful in his smuggling bid then that’s extra cash for him-mari yemusana.
It is only natural that Beitbridge Border Post will be mainly used for this because it is the direct route to Zimbabwe from South Africa. Any other route like the Botswana one will maximise the chances of getting caught and arrested.
Corrupt border officials are roped in to allow easy passage without the contraband being detected- smuggling. There is no way the contraband can pass through the x-ray mobile scanners without being detected unless the scanner operators are so incompetent at their job or the x-ray scanner is defective.
To avoid detection the border officials assigns a third party agent to handle the cash transactions between the driver and all those involved- at the border it is a sub-syndicate on its on.
For the transaction to fail it means someone would have been greed. Either the driver would have wanted to give the others less amount than agreed or the third party agent would have short changed the other security agents involved.
Even in cases where the contraband is involved there would be an under- declaration of the quantities involved, for example where 500 cases were involved the syndicate will declare that only 50 cases where intercepted. The intercepted truck must be sealed but somehow the other 450 cases will find their way out to their final destination. The criminal justice system will deal with the case of only 50 cases. all this time the kingpins will be aware of the case. From a criminology perspective this means either the system is very corrupt or there is political influence.
Sometimes the drivers become too greedy, so either they fake armed robberies or claim that the goods have been seized at the border by producing fake seizure documents. This mischief is rare though because of the close monitoring and at times the consequences of such mischief are dire-either the driver is framed for a crime he did not commit meaning he will lose his job even if he is cleared by the courts of law.
Once the contraband reaches Zimbabwe, especially Harare, it is quickly distributed to bulky buyers. These bulky buyers will then distribute to street sellers who are mainly vegetable vendors at street corners in the high density suburbs (the Ghetto). These are mothers , grandmothers or aunts who are trying to make a living. They have been accustomed to say Bronco as a way of living. They are oblivious to the effects of the drug to the next door teenager they are selling the cough syrup to. Once the teenager is high he will just lie anywhere as the drug take its toll. He will be on his own trip. A trip to a distant place where him alone will know and understand- drugged. In the streets and Ghetto they say kusticker.
Based on trust and how long the parties involved have been doing business together, the transactions are strictly cash. No financial trail like invoices and receipts or mobile money transactions. Where there is trust the cash on delivery terms are waived. Goods will be supplied and the seller will pay once the stock has been sold. It’s a win win situation-the supplier will have no risk of being caught by the law enforcement officials and the seller will put a mark-up, sell, take his or her profit and then give the supplier his or her dues. Any attempt at mischief will be met with appropriate measure and force. Street justice.
At street level, the transactions are based on trust. The street peddlers do not sell Bronco to strangers unless recommended by their loyal customers. The contraband is not even stored at the selling point. It will be stashed somewhere away from the selling point.
If a stranger asks for Bronco it is either there will be total denial of its existence or a young man will be called to deal with issue. Each neighbourhood has a name for its wares. The young teenager will make an assessment of the potential buyer. If he is satisfied that it is not police sting operation he will recommend that the transaction go through. If he is in doubt the stranger will be told to hang on. Within minutes the teenager will be back with one of the ghetto guys who spend most of their times at the backyard gyms-a bouncer in street lingo. The bouncer, after a few questions will either tell the potential buyer to wait or bounce pronto and never to come back again. The transactions are shrouded in mystery. The ghetto has its own codes, rules and protocols.
Bronco has become a drug of choice among the youths-both boys and girls- because it is not classified as a dangerous drug unlike dagga/mbanje. It does not smell, it is easily portable and cannot be detected casually by sniffer dogs or smell. The traders reap hundred percent (100%) profit-from the drug kings to the street vendor.
The morally bankrupt peddlers are making a living out of a drug which is ruining the lives of young people. The drug will affect the teeth. Most users of BronCleer have rotten brown teeth. Our mothers have become morally corrupt to the extent that they give these addicted users sweets as an after indulgence cure.
It is time the Zimbabwe National Medicines Policy of 2011 be reviewed. All law enforcement agencies must pull their hands together and fight the Bronco scourge. Zimbabwe cannot afford to have , “… a cure become a curse.”
The Truth! 