Border post clears more travellers

Source: The Herald – Breaking news.

Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau

MORE than 70 000 travellers were processed at Beitbridge Border Post during the Easter holidays this year, compared to 47 000 over the same period last year.

Typically, Beitbridge Border Post clears about 8 000 travellers daily during off-peak periods, but can peak to between 15 000 and 20 000 during major holidays.

Statistics from the Department of Immigration indicate a gradual increase in the number of people crossing into Zimbabwe or South Africa at Beitbridge, whether by freight, bus, private car, or on foot.

The rise is attributed to improved efficiencies stemming from the automation of services and the reduction of human interaction in many processes.

The Department of Immigration is using an online border management system and electronic gates (e-gates), which make the processing of travellers quicker.

On the other hand, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) is using the pre-clearance and electronic Temporary Import Permits (eTIP) processing system that has seen cargo spending less than three hours at the border.

In addition, the Zimborders Consortium, which is managing the infrastructure at Beitbridge following its transformation under a US$300 million private-public partnership concession with the Government, is using an online system to track turnaround time of all vehicles – commercial and light vehicles.

This has resulted in authorities being able to clear at least 60 percent of all traffic within three hours.

Regional immigration officer in charge of Beitbridge Mr Joshua Chibundu said they were equal to the task.

He added that they had deployed enough manpower at the freight, buses, and light vehicles terminals.

“Between April 17 and April 21, we processed a total of 32 901 travellers on entries and 34 915 on exits, giving us a total of 67 816,” Mr Chibundu said.

He advised travellers to follow all the laid down legal channels to process their clearance at the border posts to avoid unnecessary inconveniences.

“As a Department, we don’t have intermediaries and hence we encourage travellers to ensure their passports are cleared by immigration officers in their presence,” Mr Chibundu said.

During the Easter weekend, 456 people were arrested for violating immigration laws, including touts and vendors who have been handed over to police for further management.

Mr Chibundu said three migrants were refused entry into Zimbabwe while 598 were stopped from going into South Africa for lack of proper travel documents.