Skilpadshek Border Post west of Zeerust has become the latest choke point for transporters travelling west from South Africa into Botswana, mainly heading onto the Trans-Kalahari Corridor.
This comes after Kopfontein Border Post further north, a main crossing into Botswana’s hinterland area and the primary access way for trucks heading towards the landlocked country's capital of Gaborone, was closed down after two officials tested positive for Covid-19.
Mike Fitzmaurice, chief executive of the Federation of East and Southern African Transport Associations (Fesarta), confirmed that traffic was being diverted to Skilpadshek and Ramatlabama, the border post south of Zeerust and west of Mahikeng.
Fitzmaurice added that Kopfontein was still waiting for decontamination of the entire port.
In the meantime transporters and representative bodies such as Fesarta are awaiting updates from Alex Masia, the manager at Kopfontein.
A clearing agent told Freight News that Skilpadshek was now feeling the brunt of diverted traffic that really should have been passing through Kopfontein.
“The Covid case, along with the Public Works Department (PWD) not sending decontamination teams and the Botswana government insisting that all drivers be tested, go hand-in-hand, causing the congestion we’re currently seeing at Skilpadshek.”
She said she could not understand why it was taking so long for PWD to decontaminate Kopfontein.
“We’ve had this thing (the coronavirus outbreak) since March. You would imagine that by now they should be prepared for it.”
In video footage sent to Fesarta, a driver shows the truck back-up stretching from end-to-end.
“This is how long the queue is. I’m about six kilometres from the border. Another truck of ours says it’s about 10 kilometres from the border. We’re just in the middle of the bush here.”
He said he lost count at 350 trucks.
Fitzmaurice said it was taking up to a day to get through the border at the moment.
It’s not the first time that a Covid cause has played havoc with cross-border road freight in the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
It’s also not the first time that truck drivers have been expected to camp out in their cabs, sitting in queues for hours on end, sometimes for days, waiting to pass through customs.
Whether it’s Kazungula north-east between Botswana and Zambia, Chirundu going north from Zimbabwe to Zambia, or Beitbridge on the Zim-Sout Africa border – border crossings in the SADC are hit hard by a pandemic authorities seem ill-prepared to deal with.
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