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weeklong congestion that had rocked the country’s busiest inland port of entry.
The latest development follows the intervention of Home Affairs ministers from Zimbabwe and South Africa over delays in the clearance of travellers by border officials, particularly in the neighbouring country.
Co-Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi on Monday engaged his South African counterpart, Mrs Naledi Pandor on the situation at the border following complaints raised by travellers most of whom blamed South African immigration officials for laxity in clearing the queues.
The border post had since last Wednesday been heavily congested with traffic as scores of travellers, mostly Zimbabweans working in South Africa, commonly known as injiva, flocked back to the neighbouring country. At some stage the queues stretched for about 20km from the border post, creating pandemonium in the small border town.
When Chronicle visited the border post yesterday, the queues, which had become a common sight, had virtually disappeared on the road leading to the port of entry.
Minister Mohadi said following his discussion with Mrs Pandor over the issue at Beitbridge Border Post, more officials were subsequently deployed on the South African side of the border.
Travellers and local immigration officials blamed South African border officials for the delays in processing traffic.
The assistant regional immigration manager in charge of Beitbridge Border Post, Mr Charles Gwede, said the sudden increase in the volume of traffic was due to failure by their South African counterparts to absorb pressure on their side.
South Africa’s Border Control Operation Coordinating Committee (BCOCC) spokes-person, Mr Patrick Moengs yesterday said the situation at their side had tremendously improved following the deployment of more personnel. “There is a huge improvement at our border, as characterised by manageable queues and the number of people being cleared on the arrivals section has also relatively gone down compared to the past few days when our officials were really overwhelmed.
“We have deployed more staff and increased our processing points from 40 computers to 48 to make sure that we manage the pressure and ensure that people go through as quickly as possible,” he said.
Mr Moengs attributed the delays to rigorous border screening processes and inadequate manpower to effectively clear travellers.
“As border authorities, we are dealing with nationalities of different countries hence we are obliged to check on various things which include scrutinising travel documents, permits as some people have a tendency of wanting to capitalise on the situation by presenting fake documents.
“We are also checking on firearms among other things, which are likely to be smuggled into South Africa and that is precisely why travellers encountered delays on our side,” he said.
Police, immigration officers and New Limpopo Bridge Company employees since last week, had a torrid time controlling the queues in an effort to reduce congestion at the border.
On average the border handles about 8 000 travellers daily with the figures increasing to 20 000 during the peak period such as the festive season.
Online Reporter