Sugar seized is safe, but stolen – INAE

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Sugar seized is safe, but stolen – INAE

8:16 CAT | 30 Aug 2017

O País

Three tonnes of unlabelled sugar seized earlier this month in the southern Mozambican district of Moamba are fit for human consumption, according to the National Inspectorate of Economic Activities (INAE) – but the reason the sugar was unlabelled is that it was stolen.

Speaking at a Maputo press conference on Tuesday, INAE spokesperson Virginia Muianga said investigation showed that the sugar had been stolen from the nearby Xinavane sugar mill. It was part of 30 tonnes of sugar for export stolen from Xinavane. The other 27 tonnes have already been recovered.

Muianga said that in the period from 14 to 25 August INAE had begun to inspect such establishments as gymnasiums, swimming pools and massage parlours. In many of these places INAE found that they lacked permits for their activities, lacked trained staff, and failed to observe basic rules of hygiene and cleanliness.

INAE had even received reports of children drowning in swimming pools, and so urged the owners of the pools to observe strictly he rules of safety necessary to operate such premises.

The National Director of Education, Culture and Sport at INAE, Ali Mussa, seem shocked to find that several of the massage parlours were just fronts for sex work. “We inspected 24 massage parlours across the country, and we found that there are activities that offend against public morals”, he said.

There was also genuine massage therapy going on in some of the parlours, but these use oils and needles, which require properly trained staff. “What we found in the parlours”, said Mussa, “is that the people employed have no training in massage therapy”.

Furthermore the beds used in the parlours were inappropriate, and some of the oils were past their expiry date.

Over this period INAE continued its regular inspections of shops and other retail outlets and tourism establishments. In all, INAE brigades inspected 802 establishments, compared with 496 in the previous fortnight. INAE ordered the temporary closure of three shops in Nampula, for selling goods in unhygienic conditions, and one gymnasium in Maputo for operating illegally.

In addition to hygiene questions, the inspectors were also looking at the prices charged for goods and services, in preparation for the 2017/2018 festive season.

During the fortnight in question, INAE seized and destroyed foodstuffs past their expiry date valued at 83,780 meticais (about 1,373 US dollars), and counterfeit goods (such as compact discs) valued at 700,000 meticais.

Source: AIM