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Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
The volume of travellers accessing Zimbabwe and South Africa through Beitbridge Border Post is increasing, with authorities anticipating a peak between Thursday and Friday nights.
The assistant regional immigration officer in charge of Beitbridge Mr Notius Tarisai said they were already implementing a raft of measures to deal with an anticipated increase in traffic during the Easter holidays.
He said they had agreed in principle with their counterparts on the other side of the border to harmonise operations between April 7 and 19.
He added that they were anticipating more relief staff.
South Africa has deployed 60 more Immigration officers to Beitbridge, while customs authorities are also expected to boost their staff between today and Friday.
Said Mr Tarisai: “At the moment the volume of human and vehicular traffic is still manageable.
“However, I cannot give you the figure at the moment. We are still compiling. You will note that traffic has been separated into buses, returning residents, visitors, transit, motorists and commercial.
“Further, we will open up more service points outside the main immigration hall when the traffic increases”.
He said they were using most of the strategies they applied during the Christmas and New Year holidays.
He said through the Border Post Efficiency Management Committee, they had come up with a Consolidated Plan to ensure that traffic is cleared efficiently.
Mr Tarisai added that travellers were being directed accordingly to the various service points as they enter the border post.
He said they had suspended all off and leave days for their staff so to ensure that they operate at full strength throughout the Easter holidays.
Statistics from the department show that during off peak period they clear 15 000 travellers daily and 30 000 during peak periods.
The figures include both arrivals and departures.
Online Reporter