This past Sunday saw the Border Management Authority (BMA) announcing with much fanfare that they would extend operating hours at various land borders to accommodate tourism, among other things.
But supply chain service providers using well-trafficked access ways like the Groblersbrug Border Post into Botswana are not impressed.
South Africa’s N11 crossing, and important transit on the Copperbelt Bypass route used by overborder hauliers who prefer to avoid the North-South Corridor through Zimbabwe, remains congested.
Reacting to the news that the BMA will extend the border’s hours by an additional two hours from 10pm to midnight for a period of five days, Mike Fitzmaurice of the Transit Assistance Bureau said: “It’s ludicrous!
“What are they trying to accomplish?”
He said although volumes were expected to drop off from about the 24th – the final day of the BMA’s operating-hour extension – they should really be running the border on a 24/7 basis.
“They should know by now how busy the border gets during this time of year, and should have Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) in place. Yet every year it becomes apparent how the lack of SOPs at this border causes congestion.”
Fitzmaurice, along with Kage Barnett of the Trans-Africa Border Hub, advocates for more personnel to be deployed on a consistent basis to assist with truck management and precleared cargo compliance.
But the BMA has made it clear that just one of many resource challenges that continue to sporadically impact deployment efficiencies is personnel, especially when they’re most needed.
The Cross-Border Road Transport Agency has said the same.
Based on year-to-date exports from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia, respectively 3.1 million and 821 000 tonnes, with the latter’s output tipped to increase to a million tonnes in 2026, reuptake of commodity shipments is projected to be slow at first when the mines reopen in mid-January.
“We should still have SOPs implemented,” Fitzmaurice said.
“We cannot afford to be caught off guard as we usually are because government agencies like the BMA are slow to respond to slow-moving trade at borders like Groblersbrug.”
Last week, Barnett said more should be done about congestion-prone corridors such as the bypass route to the Copperbelt.
