Low inter-city travel between Beitbridge and other towns

Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
INTER-CITY travel between Beitbridge and other towns remains low with restricted cross-border traffic between Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Last week South Africa and Zimbabwe opened their borders to returning residents, but the volume of people using the border is still low.

Most public transport operators in Beitbridge rely on cross-border related traffic and with the borders still closed only a few are travelling inter-city.

The services of inter-city travel were banned at the start of the lockdown in March and resumed last month.

Under normal circumstances 15 000 people pass through Beitbridge Border Post daily with a third of these using inter-city buses while others use the services of at least 200 cross-border buses.

Dulivhadzimu long-distance bus terminus which used to be a hive of activity is now synonymous with dead silence.

The few people that are travelling rely on hitch-hiking commercial trucks and private motor vehicles.

According to Mr Brian Mungofa of MB Transport, business is at its lowest.

“Business is very low these days with few people being able to move. However, we have started putting in place the standard safety measures for both the travellers and employees in line with the Government requirements,” he said.

Town clerk, Mr Loud Ramakgapola said they were handling an average of five long-distance travel buses at Dulivhadzimu Bus Terminus daily.

Before the lockdown, he said they would handle at least 30 buses going to various towns countrywide.

“There are not many buses plying the usual routes and we are handling less than 10.

“We have also put on hold the upgrading of Dulivhadzimu Bus Terminus so that we revise terms with the contractor who now wants to be paid in foreign currency,” said Mr Ramakgapola.

Inter-city travel was suspended when the national lockdown started on March 31 to contain the spread of Covid-19 infections.

Under the new order, transporters who wish to ferry passengers for inter-city travel should register with the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development.

This is done to ensure that they strictly comply with standard operating procedures for their sector which is compliant to the WHO guidelines and all Covid-19 regulations.