adminmost companies shut down for the holidays. The number of travellers is expected to increase this year since many Zimbabweans based in South Africa have acquired passports in the just ended documentation exercise that was held by the two governments in that country.
According to figures released by the Department of Immigration a total of 21 050 people entered Zimbabwe between Friday and Sunday evening while 17 655 left for South Africa at the same period. Scores of people were seen at both the South African and Zimbabwean sides of the border yesterday where they were being expeditiously cleared.
On the Zimbabwean side, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) had only two cash officers catering for both travellers and commercial cargo.
Travellers had to queue for between two and three hours to be served. Zimra could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Assistant Regional Officer-in- charge operations at Beitbridge in the Department of Immigration Mrs Tamari Shadaya, said they anticipated traffic to peak today. She said on average they cleared about 2 500 people per day but the number rises to between 15 000 and 20 000 during long holidays. Since Saturday night, Mrs Shadaya said, they have been clearing a lot of visitors travelling in foreign registered cars. She said they have, however, devised a host of strategies to contain the workload during the holiday.
South Africa’s Home Affairs Department has also deployed 41 more officers to ports of entry in Limpopo province from less busy stations in anticipation of an upsurge in traffic during the Easter holidays.
Online Reporter
- Herald
- July 31, 2026
- 58 views
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