admin78 939 that passed through last year.
However, the volume of vehicular traffic dropped with some travellers saying they had opted for public transport for fear of a repeat of the chaotic situation which occurred at the border in January. Long queues of cars heading to South Africa stretched for more than 10 kilometres on the Zimbabwean side as South African immigration officials failed to cope.
About 2 000 vehicles, including heavy and light, passed through the border per day in comparison to 5 000 cars during other holidays. The assistant regional immigration officer in charge of the southern region (Beitbridge), Mr Charles Gwede, confirmed the development yesterday.
He said they processed a total of 36 079 arrivals and 49 439 departures during this Easter. He said they had also received 15 more workers from less busy stations across the country to assist clear the Easter travellers.
The department has 55 employees at Beitbridge against a requirement of between 70 and 80 for them to operate at full strength.
He said they were clearing around 14 000 people per day on both sides of the border.
“We have recorded an increase, though people could not feel the impact because we had adequately prepared. We also harmonised operations with our South African counterparts,” he said.
Mr Gwede said they had separated traffic into tourist, commercial, buses and returning residents, while the buses were being cleared under the tagging system. The tagging system involves the clearance of buses on first-come-first-served basis.
The processing of travellers on the South African side drastically improved during the Easter holidays following a visit to the border post by that country’s Home Affairs Minister, Naledi Pandor, and the ministry’s director-general, Mkuseli Apleni, last Thursday.
South African border authorities have on many occasions been accused of taking a business-as-usual approach in the face of an increase in traffic.
Online Reporter