Online Reporter
Trust Freddy
ZIMBABWE recorded over 350 000 arrivals and 250 000 departures in the first three weeks of December, with over 1,1 million travellers expected to be processed by year-end, facilitated by modernised border infrastructure.
Latest data released from the Department of Immigration revealed that between December 1 and December 23, travellers processed across the country’s ports totalled 613 127.
Chief immigration officer Ms Respect Gono told The Sunday Mail that movement is expected to peak this week.
“Traveller movement is anticipated to peak in the last week of December, with aggregate travel statistics anticipated to reach 1 100 000, compared to 1 041 403 in 2024,” she said.
“From the 1st of December 2025 to the 23rd, a total of 613 127 travellers have passed through our ports, and of these, 356 887 were entries, whilst 256 240 were exits.
“In December 2024, a total of 1 041 403 travellers were cleared. The figure was made up of 607 334 entries and 434 069 exits. It is anticipated that traveller movement will surpass the 2024 experience.”
The Online Border Management System (OBMS), she said, was facilitating seamless travel by reducing traveller clearance times from three minutes to about a minute.
“Since 2024, the Department of Immigration has been in the process of rolling out an OBMS. The system is now operational at all our major ports and inland stations.
“The OBMS comes with several modules such as e-permits, e-visa and of course the e-gates, which are an automated self-service facility that uses a combination of biometric data and e-passports for traveller clearance. E-gates have been deployed to all major ports — seven were deployed to Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, one at Victoria Falls Airport, two at Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Airport and four at Beitbridge Border Post.”
Ms Gono said the deployment of the OBMS meant that additional staff was no longer required unlike in previous years.
“The need to deploy relief staff has declined due to digitalisation of services. However, for ports which are anticipated to be overwhelmingly busy, such as Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, relief staff have been deployed to cope with the pressure of the festive season,” she added.
“No additional staff was deployed to ports such as Beitbridge, where border upgrade and modernisation have significantly decongested the port. The separation of traffic was the key departure point in defining efficiency. Three terminals are now available: the commercial terminal, the bus terminal and the pedestrian terminal. “
According to Ms Gono, the OBMS has also enhanced security.
“When a traveller’s passport gets scanned by the officer-operated scanners or e-gates, their biometric features are verified against the passport they would have presented for clearance. The process ensures that the traveller presenting the passport is indeed its legitimate holder. This is a critical check against document or identity fraud,” she said.
“Crucially, the OBMS frees up immigration officers to focus on more complex, value-added tasks. Instead of spending their time scanning and stamping passports for low-risk, pre-cleared travellers, officers can now dedicate their expertise to passenger assistance, in-depth secondary screenings and investigating potential anomalies. This smarter allocation of human resources makes the entire border process more robust.”
Further, the OBMS acts as a unified platform as it enables seamless information sharing with key institutions such as Interpol and other security agencies.
This creates a consolidated picture of movement and risk, making it much harder for illicit activities like trafficking or smuggling to go undetected.
