Transkalahari Corridor executive slates lack of
communication
Leonard Neill
SA REVENUE Services has re-introduced the Single Administration Document (SAD) for the rapid movement of goods along the TransKalahari Corridor on a temporary basis. But the Corridor operators were unaware of it, until advised by FTW last week.
“This is welcome news, and a real breath of fresh air in the festive season. But it shows the total lack of communication which has hampered our efforts to assist in the export and import programmes of South Africa, Botswana and Namibia,” says Frank Gschwender, Walvis Bay Corridor Group business development executive.
The latest Corridor newsletter slates customs officials in all three countries for failing to move ahead with the single document process which was introduced last April, and which gave transport vehicles a single clearance at the first border post applicable for all three countries.
Senior customs official Theo Lyimo, who was appointed to organise the project, reported in the newsletter that no progress had been made because of too many stumbling blocks from customs and SARS.
This information was published on FTW’s internet website FTNow and brought immediate response from SARS, who advised of a Government Notice of November 15 in which temporary procedures were to be introduced covering goods on the route. These will apply from December 1 until March 31 next year.
“Lyimo has been totally unaware of the situation,” said Gschwender. “Hats off to FTW. It shows the power of the publication in bringing officialdom to the attention of the situation. It’s good to hear this is happening, but why weren’t we told? After all, we are the official group who have promoted the corridor from the outset.”
SARS spokesman Lionel Schoeman, in an e-mail to FTW, said the November 15 notice was discussed with Botswana and Namibian customs, and it was decided to draft an SAD for consideration by the countries mentioned, which would be accepted by all three countries.
“The new combined form was drafted and forwarded to customs heads of the three countries for comment by December 15, 2002,” he said.
“It must be highlighted that the simplified procedures to be introduced for the TKC pilot are in fact only a re-introduction of the procedure that was in place for the CCA1 which was unfortunately stopped due to the introduction of other forms by some of the countries.”
