adminBeitbridge Bureau
TRAFFIC at Beitbridge border post has started normalising as most Zimbabweans based in South Africa left the country between December 27 and January 4.
The border has been de-congested on the arrivals side with south bound traffic. Few travellers were seen on both the departure and arrivals at the border post by end of day yesterday.
Customs and immigration officers said the volume of traffic was slowly returning to normal where 15,000 accessed the border, including arrivals and departures.
A few days ago long queues of South African bound vehicles stretching for 2km from the border post along the Beitbridge-Bulawayo road had become common.
This was attributed mainly to the surge in south bound traffic and the unavailability of parking space on the South African side of the border.
“Things are slowly getting back to normalcy. We are clearing few travellers going to South Africa. We have had an increase in south bound traffic in the last seven days as many people rushed to process permits under the Zimbabwe Special Permit before the closure of the window on December 31,” said an immigration officer on the Zimbabwean border.
Border authorities from both Zimbabwe and South Africa had deployed more staff to ensure a speedy flow of traffic during the festive season.
Congestion had become the order of the day at southern Africa’s busiest port of entry with travellers spending up to two days to gain entry into either country during most holidays.
Things improved in the last three years when authorities from both countries intervened by deploying more staff and aligned operations.
The chaos had mainly been attributed to the shortage on manpower. Around 190,000 people left the country while 130,000 travellers entered the country between December 15 and December 25.
Online Reporter