Customs denies office closure rumours

Customs denies office closure rumours

DESPITE MARKET fears that customs is going on an office cutting spree - expressed in a number of communications to FTW - no such decision has been made, according to media liaison manager Fani Zulu.
A cut-back in offices could be part of the future face of customs - but this will depend on a re-organisational study which is currently on the cards, he added.
"There are proposals on the table which seek to re-engineer the whole organisation," said Zulu, "and one of these is the centralisation of certain activities.
"But these are back-office activities, and will have little if any effect on the people who are using our offices on a day-to-day basis."
Whether this centralisation leads to customs being able to operate with a smaller office network would rather largely depend on where they and the shipping industry end up along the EDI (electronic data interchange) trail.
"Depending on where we're all going with central electronic clearances, for example," said Zulu, "we will have to decide what infrastructure we need to go with it - and there would be very detailed planning around these proposals.
"We would also talk to the stakeholders before anything is done - and seek input from them.
"But one thing I can say is no decision has been made to close down any offices."

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