Customs on the South African side of the Beitbridge border with Zimbabwe was this morning still hard at work to clear up the southbound backlog following a software update by the SA Revenue Service (Sars).
This was after the update was activated on Friday night.
It was only going to take two hours, but as is the norm with crossings in the sub-Saharan region, delays have a tendency to throw a spanner in the works at any given time.
By Saturday morning it soon emerged that southbound traffic was building up as truckers turned to the Transit Assistance Bureau (“Transist”) for help.
This morning the line north of the border stretched for kilometres, made worse by trucks queueing three to four lanes abreast in a desperate attempt to squeeze through the worsening point.
“It’s a bit like trying to push a pea through a straw,” one transporter said.
“Only problem is the pea becomes a pumpkin when the border’s bombarded by a building backlog and customs personnel dragging their feet in dealing with clearing it up.”
“Not so,” said a clearing agent based at Beitbridge.
“Sars and Zimra (Zimbabwe Revenue Authority) are working very hard to clear up the queue and it’s already looking a lot better.”
