Festive travellers flood Beitbridge

via Festive travellers flood Beitbridge | The Herald December 23, 2015

Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
Activity has heightened at Beitbridge Border Post as more Zimbabweans based in South Africa flock home for the festive season. The number of returning residents is reported to have peaked on Friday evening, prompting immigration and customs departments from Zimbabwe and South Africa to come up with a raft of measures to ease congestion at the border posts.

More immigration and customs officers have been deployed on both sides of the border.

Assistant regional Immigration officer in charge of Beitbridge Border Post Mr Notius Tarisai said they cleared 27 803 travellers on the exit side and 49 000 on the arrival side between Friday and Sunday evening.

“We have opened up two more clearing points outside the main immigration hall in light of the current increase in traffic,” he said.

“We haven’t seen much of human and vehicular traffic clogging the border (due to more clearing points),though statistics show that people are entering the country in their numbers,”

Mr Tarisai said they had opened a filter gate on the arrivals section to create more space for vehicular traffic within the border area.

He said they were working on two 12-hour shifts to improve efficiency and the smooth flow of traffic.

“Traffic has also been separated into various categories including pedestrians, private cars, buses, commercial, visitors and transit.

“We are expecting to be busy throughout the week and we will continue to review operations in line with the demands on the ground,” said Mr Tarisai.

More than 500 000 people have passed through Beitbridge Border Post since the beginning of December.

Last year a total of 1,118 million people inclusive of arrivals and departures passed through Beitbridge Border Post in December alone.

The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority has also beefed up its staff at the border post by opening up more counters to process temporary import permits for Zimbabweans or visitors driving foreign-registered vehicles.

South Africa has also deployed 78 more immigration officers to Beitbridge.

Travellers who spoke to The Herald yesterday commended the Government for ensuring that there was a smooth flow of traffic at the border.

“We are happy with the service on both sides of the border. This time we spent less than three hours to complete all the border processes on the Zimbabwean side of the border,” said Mrs Deliwe Tizirai, a Zimbabwean based in Johannesburg.

Mr Thabo Mokoena, who is based in Cape Town, said the clearance processes on both the Zimbabwean and South African sids of the border had greatly improved.

“I had stopped using this border because of the usual chaos during this time of the year, but this time around we are happy with the situation on the ground,” he said.

Another traveller, Mr Shenica Nyathi, commended border authorities for improving services.

“Everything has improved at this border though we are calling on Zimra and Zinara to consider reviewing the toll fees which are unreasonably highly.

“It is a deterrent for someone to pay R1 000 just to access this border. You will note that you pay Zinara R150 for toll fees and pay Zimra R800 for a temporary import permit,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Republic Police will continue to invest in projects that promote economic development and self-sustenance, Commissioner of Police (Training and Human Resources Development) Grace Ndebele said last Friday.

She made the remarks while opening a lodge constructed in Beitbridge from funds raised by the Police Association, an organisation in which all members of the force contribute money for investment.

The Police Cottages is a project initiated in 2006.

“The beautiful cottages we have witnessed today are a result of sheer resilience of ZRP as a whole and in particular, the Police Association, which despite harsh economic conditions has continually persevered to come up with projects that put our organisation on the map.

“This is a development of a high magnitude for us as ZRP, which is also supportive of the Government’s economic blueprint, Zim-Asset.”

She said the lodge was the first of its kind in Matabeleland South and that it would go a long way in promoting tourism and the provision of overnight accommodation in the border town.

Comm Ndebele said they had several similar cottages in other provinces, which contributed to both infrastructure and economic development of the respective towns.

She, however, could not disclose the total amount of money that was invested in the projects, saying the figures were still being collated.

The construction of the lodge brings to 14 the number of accommodation facilities in Beitbridge inclusive of lodges and hotels.

“We have also purchased a high- powered generator to ensure that we have enough electricity supplies at all the times.

“As ZRP, we must give rigorous thought on how each local project affects national development. You will note that the travel and leisure sector stands out as one area that offers enormous unrealised potential,” said Comm Ndebele.