20091228
allafrica

Johannesburg — ZIMBABWEAN authorities have blamed inadequate parking as a reason for congestion at the Beitbridge border post on the South African side of the border.

Beitbridge is among the busiest border posts in the economic region of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), with volumes rising to more than 12000 travellers and 3500 vehicles a day during the festive holidays.

This forced travellers and long- distance truck drivers to queue for hours on end to be cleared before crossing the border.

Last week, Zimbabwe's main official newspaper, The Herald, quoted border officials blaming lack of space on the South African side of the border for the vehicle pile-up. They said this had a knock-on effect on the Zimbabwean side, which blocked the free movement of travellers.

" You will note that most of the trucks that are queuing here have since been cleared on our side," the paper quoted Zimbabwe Revenue Authority regional manager Angeline Mashiri as saying.

However, regular power cuts in Zimbabwe have also forced the authorities to revert to manual clearance, which Mashiri said was more time consuming.

Since 2003, the Beitbridge border has been operating around the clock, while a toll bridge was commissioned in 1995.

Zimbabwean authorities said that this month traffic flow across the border had reached annual record levels, attributable to growing economic stability in the country along with the introduction of the 90-day visa exemption, which made it easier for Zimbabweans to travel to SA.

Gorden Moyo, minister of state in the prime minister's office, visited the border post and suggested that the old single-lane bridge could be used to cut down on congestion. But that facility had since been set aside for pedestrians and goods trains.

Home affairs spokeswoman Siobhan McCarthy yesterday referred questions to the South African Revenue Service (SARS), which chairs the border control operations coordinating committee.

SARS spokesman Adrian Lackay said a visit to check on operations a week before Christmas had not revealed any problem areas, although he acknowledged that parking for long-distance trucks was a challenge. "People must understand that at this time of the year it's peak traffic volumes," he said.

Earlier this month, Deputy Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba said an extra 150 immigration officers would be deployed to the busiest South African border posts, including Beitbridge, to beef up staff during the Christmas period.

This month, Zambia and Zimbabwe commissioned what was believed to be sub-Saharan Africa's first one- stop border post at Chirundu, which was expected to reduce time spent at the border by 30% to 50%.

It was anticipated that the proposed one-stop border post would help ease congestion and ensure quick clearance of travellers, particularly during the 2010 Soccer World Cup when thousands of fans are expected to pass through Beitbridge and Musina.