Reported discussions by South Africa’s Department of Transport (DoT) and Botswana’s Ministry of Transport and Public Works to move the problematic Copperbelt river transit between Groblersbrug and Martin’s Drift has been criticised as “too little too late” – and unnecessary.
Responding to a report in Independent Online (IOL), leading cross-border expert Mike Fitzmaurice said there was really no reason to move the port elsewhere along the Limpopo.
“The existing infrastructure is already there and there’s a private-sector property stakeholder on Botswana’s side of the border that has made land available to deal with an increase in truck volumes,” said the chief executive of the Transit Assistance Bureau.
“Ideally they should build a new bridge to cope with trucks heading to the Copperbelt and back, and use the old single-lane bridge for ordinary travellers and tourism.”
But according to the IOL story, plans are to relocate the border between South Africa’s N11 and Botswana’s B140.
Previously a relatively quiet route used by 4x4 travellers from South Africa to get to exotic destinations such as Chobe, Kubu Island and the Okavango, the ‘Copperbelt bypass’ has become the preferred route for fuel, mining supplies and related cargo heading to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia, and copper and cobalt heading south on the backhaul.
Although the ‘direct way’ through Zimbabwe is shorter by about 200 kilometres, tight profit margins have forced overborder hauliers to avoid expensive transit fees at borders like Beitbridge, Zim’s notoriously bad roads and corrupt law enforcers.
Because of global demand for copper and cobalt, of which at least 70% is mined in the DRC for use in smart technology, commodity volumes have been steadily increasing.
IOL reports that “the DoT has confirmed through the Cross Border Road Agency (C-BRTA) that there has been a shift in freight traffic volumes from Beitbridge to Groblersbrug, and this is partly caused by the introduction of extra charges at Beitbridge, on the Zimbabwe side”.
Departmental spokesperson Amanda Hlahleni is on record saying, “Groblersbrug remains challenged as it was not designed for huge volumes of traffic, and has a single-lane bridge that accommodates minimal flows of traffic across the border.”
However, Fitzmaurice pointed out that the authorities had known about this for several years and wouldn’t listen to private-sector recommendations about improving the crossing.
“The land available on the Botswana side of the border could be used to develop a joint border, but for some reason they’re not entertaining this idea. If such a border was developed on the recommended land, it would also deal with flooding on the SA side which is right on the river’s level.”
From a customs point of view, SA and Botswana should already have harmonised taxation efficiencies in place as both countries belong to the Southern African Customs Union.
But whenever the Limpopo floods or Copperbelt cargo spikes, the Botswana bypass route become congested, sometimes for up to a week as trucks back up, especially on the SA side.
Bottlenecking at the border is not only well documented, but was predicted back in April 2021 by Lesley Mpofu, executive director of the Trans-Kalahari Corridor Secretariat.
Speaking to Freight News in April of that year, ahead of the opening in May of the multimodal Kazungula border across the Zambezi – formerly served by river barges – he cautioned against a trickle-down effect further south.
He said the single-lane bridge at Groblersbrug was ill-equipped to deal with the anticipated increase in traffic.
Bizarrely, in 2023, South Africa’s Department of Public Works and Infrastructure announced plans to upgrade six land borders: Lebombo, Beitbridge, Maseru, Oshoek, Kopfontein and Ficksburg.
Fitzmaurice said although it was obvious why it was necessary to upgrade the respective supply chain transits into Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini and Botswana, he couldn’t understand why Ficksburg was included and not Groblersbrug.
“Ficksburg is a quiet and hardly carries any cargo.
“What’s important here is for South Africa and Botswana to put their sovereignty issues aside, develop a one-stop solution that fits all, build a wide bridge above the flood level, used the raised land made available, and initiate trade-facilitative systems that will bring in certain revenue for both countries.
“Instead, what we’ve seen is a 30% decrease in outbound Copperbelt through South Africa because of that border, forcing transporters to use better-served corridors to ports like Dar es Salaam and Walvis Bay.”
