Border congestion eases

Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
The movement of travellers through Beitbridge Border Post is gradually improving with authorities clearing most of the people to leave the country between Sunday morning and Tuesday evening.

The country and Sadc’s busiest inland port of entry has been a hive of activity following the announcement of a suspension of general passenger travel by Government at the weekend.

The suspension took effect from Tuesday and under the new set-up only foreign nationals and Zimbabweans who are legal residents or have study and work permits in foreign nations are allowed to depart through airports and land borders.

With respect to arrivals, Zimbabweans wishing to come home and foreigners who are legal residents in the country are being allowed entry.

Although the Department of Immigration (Zimbabwe) is yet to release official statistics, Chronicle is reliably informed that an average of 8 000 people have been leaving the country for South Africa over the last three days.

“We pushed a lot of human traffic to South Africa between Sunday and Tuesday and now our focus is on moving out the vehicles,” said a border official.

In separate interviews yesterday most motorists said they had been cleared on the Zimbabwean side of the border and were awaiting departure to South Africa.

“Things are improving, we have been here for the last 24 hours. The majority of the motorists you are seeing here are only drivers and their assistants.

“The bulk of the travellers are already in South Africa,” said Mr Bulelani Tshuma.

He said most people had to cross the border on foot to avoid being caught up in the congestion of vehicles.

The motorist said some people resumed work on Tuesday hence they had to use public transport in South Africa to get to their respective destinations.

Mr Tavonga Zhou said the traffic jam was necessitated by the panic among most Zimbabweans based in South Africa who thronged the border to avoid being caught up in the local lockdown.

“The traffic situation has greatly improved if we compare with the last two days when queues of motorists were stretching for almost 5km out of the border.

“Things could have been better if the border was operating on a 24-hour basis,” said Mr Zhou.

It is understood that, although the festive season traffic through Beitbridge Border post was chaotic, only 100 000 people used the port of entry in December last year.

The delays were a result of strict Covid-19 screening in both countries and the introduction of curfews, under which private travellers are not cleared after 9PM.

Only commercial cargo is being cleared throughout the day. — @tupeyo