The Cry Baby Blog: The sale of used underwear banned in Zimbabwe

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

The sale of used underwear banned in Zimbabwe

Could this underwear be sold in Zimbabwe? Wikipedia

I don't believe there is much of a market for used underwear in the western world, but there apparently is in impoverished Zimbabwe. The government is having no part of it and has passed a law forbidding the sale of used undergarments.

Statutory instrument 150 of 2011: "The importation of articles of second-hand undergarments of any type, form or description, whether purchased, donated or procured in any other manner, is now forbidden."

"I am told we are now even importing women's underwear in this country," finance minister Tendai Biti, the brain trust behind the law, said . "How does that happen? If you are a husband and you see your wife buying underwear from the flea market, you would have failed. If I was your in-law, I would take my daughter and urge you to first put your house in order if you still want her back."

The local newspaper NewsDay even ran an editorial supporting the law:

"Wearing used underwear is most dehumanising and no government worth its salt should allow its citizens to be abused to this extent. It is a fact that our flea markets receive bales of clothing, some of which is exclusively used underwear, some of which is soiled. What nation have we become that knowingly subjects its people to humiliation and disease? It is inconceivable for a country to open its borders for the importation of used underwear – to allow our women to wear undergarments that other women in other countries have used and discarded."

One must remember that this is country with one of the highest unemployment rates in the world – over 90 percent – run by brutal madman Robert Mugabe. Truly a madhouse.