Online Reporter
Thupeyo Muleya, [email protected]
HUNDREDS of travellers from Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia travelling via the Beitbridge Port of Entry (PoE) experienced long delays to cross into South Africa between Saturday and yesterday due to limited space and lean manpower on the South African side.
Stagnant queues of vehicles and buses have been lining up along major roads in Beitbridge town, with the majority having completed border clearance processes with Zimbabwean authorities.
Zimbabwe now boasts of a transformed border with three permanent terminals and bigger parking spaces for commercial traffic, buses, pedestrians and light vehicles.
However, South Africa is using the old main immigration and customs hall and the commercial side to clear passengers and it can no longer hold the expanded numbers of travellers and vehicles that came with the growth in regional and international trade.
Cross-border traders arriving from South Africa have said the South Africans are only using five officers to clear arrivals and five to clear departures.
South Africa’s Border Management Authority (BMA) has had to add more resources to the Beitbridge Port of Entry in response to concerns over its struggle to contain a surge in traffic of regional and international travellers entering that country by road.
Yesterday, BMA Commissioner, Dr Michael Masiapato, who is currently overseeing operations at the Beitbridge, said he had ensured that additional resources and operational support had been deployed across other ports of entry nationwide.
“To manage the increased volumes, multiple processing and interception points have been established at all major ports and Beitbridge continues to lead with high volumes in land borders with over 22 483 processed on 3 January alone,” he said in a statement.
“At Beitbridge, elevated volumes have been largely driven by the simultaneous arrival of buses from Malawi, Zimbabwe and Zambia, mainly and the processing was managed through established border control protocols.
“In response to long queues and extreme heat conditions, the BMA has prioritised young children, the elderly, and vulnerable travellers. With the border environment remaining highly dynamic, particularly during peak travel periods, high movement volumes do not constitute evidence of a border breach or a failure of border controls.”
In separate interviews, travellers said it has become a norm for South Africans to struggle to contain increased traffic during major holidays.
Motorists and bus drivers said they had spent at least five hours accessing the Zimbabwean border, although they had been cleared for passage on the Zimbabwean side.
“We are meant to understand that the South Africans are running out of parking space, hence we are going in slow-moving batches of light vehicles, buses and trucks. We have been here since 1PM and now it’s 6PM, still to leave and my passengers have already crossed to the other side of the border,” said a cross-border bus driver.
Some travellers said the situation was frustrating and urged border authorities from both countries to consider reviewing their peak period clearance processes.
“It’s sad we continue to have the same problem at the same border every year. Authorities need to find ways to absorb the influx ahead of time,” said a light cross-border transport identified as Owen.
A border official from Zimbabwe said they will continue to engage the South Africans over the long delays and are hoping things will improve soon.
“Most travellers have crossed and even some bus passengers have crossed and they are waiting for South Africa to create space on their side,” said the official.
The Assistant Regional Immigration (ARIO) officer-in-charge of Beitbridge (Zimbabwe), Mrs Canisia Magaya, said they had cleared the bulk of travellers between Saturday evening and Sunday morning.
“We have noted a surge in traffic and yesterday alone we processed a total of 22 379 travellers, which includes 5 387 entries and 16,992 exits,” she said.
“We are using the online border clearance system and eGates, which are up and running and all our service points are adequately manned.
“As Zimbabwean border authorities, we are giving priority clearance to the elderly, pregnant women and those travelling with young children (babies)”.
She said the Regional Enforcement and Compliance unit, working with other border agencies, had since New Year’s Day arrested 253 people at the border for various reasons, including touting, vending and border jumping.
Another group of 1 310 travellers were also turned away for violating immigration laws or failing to meet the visa and travel requirements.
“We take note that vehicles that should have left last night were still on the Zimbabwean border and this will create a hectic situation with more traffic still arriving. However, we are confident that the arrival of the South African high-powered delegation on the ground, which includes the BMA leadership, will be able to resolve some of the challenges and ensure we don’t have a similar scenario during the upcoming Easter Holidays in the next three months,” said ZimBorders Consortium general manager, Mr Nqobile Ncube.
The ZimBorders Consortium is managing the Beitbridge Border Post following its transformation of the facility for US$300 million in a 17-and-a-half-year private public partnership concession with the Government.
