Zim, SA border authorities brace for increased traffic

Thupeyo Muleya in BEITBRIDGE
Border authorities from Zimbabwe and South Africa are geared up for an anticipated increase in vehicular and human traffic during the festive season, an official has said.

Assistant regional Immigration officer in charge of Beitbridge (Zimbabwe) Mr Nqobile Ncube said they had since harmonised operations with their South African counterparts for the period 15 December 2018 and 15 January 2019.

He said the volume of incoming traffic had relatively increased and they expected it to surge until Christmas Eve.

“We have synchronised our activities with Department of Home Affairs (South Africa) and through the local stakeholders’ forum. The peak period has already kicked off. We have already started experiencing an upsurge of travellers up from a recent daily average of 12 000 a day to 27 400.

“We expect the figures to increase until Christmas Eve and thereafter we will then concentrate on exits. To ensure that we operate at full strength, we have cancelled all leave and off. In addition, our shifts have been collapsed from four to three,” said Mr Ncube.

He advised travellers to travel early to avoid the last-minute rush.

He warned those involved in irregular migration and other criminal activities during major holidays that security had been beefed up and that the long arm of the law will catch up with them.

Mr Ncube said parents should take advantage of the recent relaxation of external birth registration fees and the decentralisation of the process to ensure that during the festive season they procure relevant documentation for their children.

He said they should also avoid contracting child smugglers to illegally transport their children across borders and that the practice exposed the children to criminal activities, including human trafficking and sexual                                            abuse.

“On the compliance and enforcement side we will be operating full swing to curb the issue of smuggling of persons largely undocumented children. The scourge of contracting transporters is totally illegal and is heavily frowned upon.”