Reviews of the new electronic customs clearance at the SA/ Botswana border posts are coming in from the harshest critics – the consolidators who daily work that system. “If it is done correctly it is a dream. Your vehicle is through the South Africa side in minutes. The Botswana side is a little slower because the staff there is trying to co-ordinate with the South African side and that leads to delays. But for consolidators it is definitely an ‘A fleet of delivery trucks means we no longer use third parties.’ improvement,” said Kitty Hewitt, whose 20 years of experience transporting along the Gauteng to Gaborone route includes running her own business, Botswana Consolidators, which since 2000 has been dedicated to that route. “The EDI is new this year, and the electronic system is running quite well. We do a lot of full loads as well but generally at times I have 30-40 sets of documents and that’s where the EDI comes in handy, for consolidation, although everything that goes through the border needs documents,” Hewitt told FTW. She is bullish about Botswana, and sees her firm’s new investments in the country this year as necessary to service the country’s expanding economy. “The Botswana economy is doing okay. I run every day to Botswana. This year I opened my own depot, where I have more control. It’s in Gaborone, and one of my staff members who has worked with me for ten years has been made branch manager there and she knows my system and runs the depot. Also, we now have a fleet of delivery trucks. All the outlying areas beyond Gaborone we are now servicing ourselves, and no longer using third parties. Overnight service from Johannesburg is available just using our service,” she said. “People now call me and get updates on their shipments, but we are putting a system in place where customers will be able to do that on line,” Hewitt said.
