CAPE TOWN'S customs controller Fanie Versfeld has nothing against cricket but draws the line most emphatically when the game is played in his main cash hall during working hours.
It is hardly an appropriate scenario for a government department striving to do business in a much more professional manner, and the normally affable Versfeld admits to being incensed at the incident which occurred after clerical staff for the Mother City's estimated 200 clearing and forwarding agents were evicted from the cash hall at Customs House.
Versfeld told FTW the function of these clerks, also known as runners, was to conduct their business and leave, not hang about for much of the day becoming pally-pally with our staff, selling food, swearing and even sleeping on tables.
Which explains why something had to give and it did. Versfeld removed all tables and chairs from the cash hall, much to the chagrin of runners, some of whom have been using the facilities for 30 years, and installed counters where business has to be concluded on foot.
These people work for clearing agencies who should provide office space for their administration work. We are under no obligation to provide such facilities. This is a transformation period to become more professional and it is inevitable that with change comes pain.
The upshot of all this was a Versfeld initiative known as the clearing agents' clerical staff forum. It meets monthly to discuss customs issues which have thus far included general flow of work and specific queries about processing of entries, progress of refunds, export processing and general behaviour of clearing and forwarding agents' clerical staff, which has in the past left much to be desired.
With Don Peters, a consultant at the time for Dock Shipping acting as facilitator, three clearing agent representatives, Dean Mart (Seaborne Cargo) Mervyn Dickson (Dock Shipping) and Mario Gancitano (Sturrock Shipping) were elected.
Customs is represented by Dulcie Duguid, a manager in the controller's advisory team, Tony Loots from the client interface team and Riaan Willemse, manager for imports and exports.
Versfeld says the new forum will clearly fill a void with regard to issues not addressed by SAAFF (the South African Association of Freight Forwarders) in its dealings with Customs, and should be seen as complementary to SAAFF.
Fanie Versfeld deserves ten out of ten for this move. I don't know why we never thought of the idea years ago, was the comment from Gavin Cooper, chairman of SAAFF in the Western Cape.
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