BRIBERY AND corruption are clearly here to stay – and it’s unlikely to change until the salaries of border officials improve. That’s the consensus among the many operators who spoke to FTW on condition of anonymity. According to one source, Zimbabwean customs officials at Beit Bridge are paid as little as R150 in certain instances. “They might not ask openly for bribes, but we pay plenty, particularly if an urgent consignment is involved,” said one operator. While the majority of under-the-table payments involve incoming traffic, it applies in both directions according to another source. “If the customs official inspects your file and tells you that it’s not the original, you know you should have slipped him two hundred bucks which would also help to avoid inspection of the cargo,” he said. “Often a truck may be released from the South African side but when it gets to the Zimbabwean side they insist on inspecting it and will fine you because they maintain you have misdeclared the goods. It’s all a way of making extra money – it’s not an open book but everyone knows that it’s happening.” Much of it is politically motivated, he added. “Some time ago officials at Beit Bridge went on an extreme go slow where vehicles took up to seven days to get through.”
