Accusations
levelled at
Zimbabwe
A DIPLOMATIC railway row has erupted between Zimbabwe and Botswana because of the opening of the new Beit Bridge to Bulawayo line, built and used mainly by South Africa.
Botswana claims that Zimbabwe has placed an embargo on traffic along its railway line, which Zimbabwe denies.
But Zimbabwe's transport minister, Enos Chikowore, says that the new line is the shortest and cheapest for cargo from South Africa destined for the Bulawayo area from Cape Town.
Botswana has implied that Zimbabwe is breaking the SADC transport protocol. According to a Harare newspaper, The Daily News, the Botswana route began losing traffic last year because
400 000 tonnes of fuel a year that it used to carry was diverted through Beit Bridge. The newspaper says that the first two days after the Beit Bridge line came into use, Botswana lost 8 000 tonnes of traffic, most of it destined for Zambia and the Congo.
It is a lot of business we are losing and it is affecting our bottom line, a senior official of Botswana Railways is quoted as saying.
Chikowore is to meet Botswana's transport minister, David Magang, to come to some arrangement.
By Martin Rushmere
Copyright Now Media (Pty) Ltd
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