Another day, another kilometre to the queue.
That seems to be the case at Groblersbrug Border Post on South Africa’s N11 Copperbelt corridor into Botswana, where the line of cross-border trucks stretched further than 3.2 kilometres from the control zone’s gate at 1pm on Monday, November 17.
The last time Freight News reported about the important Limpopo River crossing, offering overborder hauliers an alternative to the shorter way through Zimbabwe, the queue was about 1.9 kilometres.
However, both Mike Fitzmaurice of the Transit Assistance Bureau and Kage Barnett of the Trans-Africa Border Hub have warned that the border is likely to get busier.
Last week it was reported that road freight operators still had the same long-standing issues: lack of proper traffic control, lax law enforcement, border resources not keeping pace with demand, non-compliant transporters still sending uncleared cargo to the border, and most importantly, a dangerous element of risk related to holding areas for tankers carrying hazardous chemicals.
The Border Management Authority (BMA) has said it’s doing whatever it can to assist trade facilitation at the transit.
The Cross-Border Road Transport Agency has said the same, adding that resources are a challenge.
The BMA’s deputy assistant commissioner for communications and marketing, Mmemme Mogotsi, also took umbrage at an earlier report in Freight News, which she said distorted a previous statement indicating that the authority was working with private-sector stakeholders to improve throughput at Groblersbrug.
Regarding private-sector fears of general cargo carriers being crammed into holding areas that are supposed to be exclusively utilised for Hazchem tankers, Mogotsi said: “The truck park operation near the port is independently owned and we are collaborating on efforts to address the long queues.”
But the private sector wants the BMA to act like an authority, claiming that merely “engaging” – Mogotsi’s word – isn’t good enough.
Fitzmaurice has, on a number of occasions, warned that the lack of proper government control of dangerous cargo dynamics at Groblersbrug adds significant risk to transporters using the border – a point illustrated by a recent truck fire further north at the Kazungula crossing on the same route.
Mogotsi alleged that Freight News had twisted her statement by posting that the BMA was not taking responsibility for a truck park that is within its border policing jurisdiction of 10 kilometres.
She maintains that the authority is continuously talking to stakeholders at the border through its Groblersbrug port management committee.
On Saturday morning, after Freight News updated the ‘offending’ post with Mogotsi’s comment, she continued to demand a retraction.
She accused Freight News of “false comments” and causing the BMA “reputation damage”.
Since then, Mogotsi has been invited to an interview with Freight News for coverage about her claims of misreporting.
When this post was being prepared, she had not responded to our requests for a conversation.
The report in question can be read here: OPINION: DG private truck park ‘not our responsibility’ – BMA (*).
