‘Chaotic’ festive season underscores Beitbridge’s problems

Congestion, bribery and all round chaos seemed to be the order of the day at the Beitbridge border post over the Christmas and New Year holidays, resulting in increased pressure on both the South African and Zimbabwean governments as well as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to find solutions to the escalating problem. Probably the busiest border post in the SADC region, with volumes rising to more than 12 000 travellers and 3500 vehicles a day during peak times, the Beitbridge border post has become notorious for its long delays. But, say experts, the festive season of 2009/2010 has taken the border post to a new low – from long, winding queues of trucks stretching for over 5km to frustrated travellers waiting for hours to be cleared, resulting in tempers rising. As claims of bribery surfaced, home affairs officers closed the border post – they stopped processing people when the situation became unmanageable. Police in the meantime took to spraying the public with hot water and pepper spray in an effort to control the ever-increasing crowd. Zimbabwean authorities blamed inadequate parking for congestion on the South African side of the border. “There is no doubt that the Beitbridge border post faces some tough challenges,” says Barney Curtis, executive director of the Federation of East and Southern African Road Transport Associations (Fesarta). Curtis, who has been heavily involved in finding solutions to these problems, says one of the major issues has been that many of the interventions and efforts to date have just not been enough to solve the problems at the border post, which is heading for disaster. According to the Beitbridge Border Post Efficiency Management Initiative Task Team, it has become critical to find ways of improving border management efficiency. With SADC taking a leading role at the border post, the appointed task team is expected to meet within the next few weeks to discuss the action plan for Beitbridge. “This plan is currently being circulated to the various role-players for comment,” says Curtis. “SADC has also requested much-needed funding that will be used to implement some of the recommendations in the action plan.”