‘Make sure paperwork is in order’

Make sure your paperwork is in order, and it is smooth sailing crossing the borders of Botswana, Lesotho, SA and Swaziland, advises Sharp Freight, the Swazi-owned clearing and forwarding firm that carries goods to all the mentioned countries. “We are lucky to work in countries where there are relatively fewer problems at borders. Customs is cooperative if all the forms are filled out,” said Service Magagula, a company director alongside Jabu Vilakati and Shadreck Mnisi. “But if something is left out, this can delay the whole process,” Magagula warned. Garment companies and their suppliers in Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland employ Sharp Freight to move raw materials and finished garments. SA roads are the conduits between the landlocked countries. “There is a lot of exchange between the garment companies. It’s a major business,” said Magagula. To accommodate more goods, a major renovation of the company’s warehouse commenced in January. Its location in a new section of the Matsapha Industrial Estate outside the Swaziland commercial hub Manzini provides easy access to road links and the country’s only airport, located five minutes away.