More staff deployment at border post

Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
Government will channel more human and material resources at Beitbridge Border Post as part of efforts to speed up the movement of both human traffic and cargo throughout the festive season, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Cde Obedingwa Mguni said last week.

He said Beitbridge was a strategic national point where failure could not be tolerated.

“We will deploy more immigration, police and customs officers to ensure that there is consistence and efficient movement of traffic,” he said.

“The situation on the ground so far is pleasing. More clearing points have been opened and traffic has been separated into different categories.”

He said border authorities should harmonise operations to avoid unnecessary delays in the movement of cargo and people through duplication of roles.

He, however, observed that while it was important to speed up the clearance of travellers it was also necessary for Government to enforce the laws of the land.

“It is the responsibility of the travellers to declare and pay the requisite levies to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) so as to avoid unnecessary delays rather than waiting for authorities to push them,” said Cde Mguni.

“We are also urging people to always travel legally and respect immigration laws. This thing of people wanting to cross the border anyhow is not good for anyone,” he said.

He said the ministry would also avail more vehicles and motor bikes for security agents to patrol the boundary line and help increase ZIMRA’s revenue collecting capacity.

He said the country was losing a lot of revenue due to rampant leakages along the country’s boundary line with South Africa.

Cde Mguni said it was critical to invest in more back-up power for mobile scanners for commercial cargo on both the imports and exports sections.

“We must be transparent in the way we are operating in this area. The security and other line departments should be involved in the profiling and analysing commercial cargo,” he said.

“We cannot afford to have commercial cargo clogging the border because of the unavailability of power. We are also worried with the surge in smuggling cases where banned or controlled goods are brought into the country under the guise of the removal in transit facility. Transit cargo should be efficiently monitored,” said Cde Mguni.

Beitbridge border is one of the busiest inland ports in sadc where an average of 170 000 travellers, 21 000 trucks, 3 200 buses and 30 000 private cars pass through per month.