Beitbridge pre-clearance gets the thumbs up

The introduction on October 8 of new procedures for commercial cargo at Beitbridge appears to be saving time and helping to fight corruption. An electronic release system has replaced the need for paper and authorising stamps at branches which is aimed at reducing turnaround times. A new case management system – Service Manager – within Customs has also been introduced, which enables officers at other Customs offices to do back-end processing of cases for each port, reducing the opportunity for collusion. With the new movement flow system, all trucks have to be pre-cleared before they arrive at the border post. They are then issued with a green or red stamp, depending on whether the Customs Risk Engine has flagged them for an inspection or not. From now on, the only reason for trucks to stop in the controlled area is for immigration purposes or for physical inspection or supervision, Sars group executive: customs trade ops, Rae Cruikshank, told FTW. “This should help speed up the flow of trucks through the port considerably.” Lyn Botha of Sediba Clearing believes that Service Manager will play a major role in stamping out bribery and corruption – a perennial gripe – while truck driver Graham Clark from Zimbabwe, who travels through the border on a regular basis, was delighted by the speedier process. “The best case scenario in the past when it came to travelling through the border was about one and a half hours on the South African side. On Monday this week, it took just 30 minutes,” he said. “It was also much quicker with the red/green stamp system as it allows you to go straight through the border if you have a green stamp.” Chris Kalshoven of Beitbridge Border Clearing Agency said there had been a few glitches at the start, but he’s positive about the development. “It means more Customs control and one less thing for us to do – and that’s collect release copies from the gate.” According to Cruickshank, truck drivers can’t believe how fast things are going and have been caught off guard at the speed. “Some of them don’t even have enough time to have their lunch like they used to before as they are hardly waiting at all.”