After last year’s political unrest in Mozambique, South Africa’s N4 border crossing towards the Port of Maputo has seen some welcome relief from violent disruption and truck-transit chaos, but the relative fluidity at Lebombo and Ressano Garcia has been short-lived.
And this time around it’s not because of customs processing and related issues.
The condition of the road on South Africa’s side of the border has become so bad on a blind bend right before the Lebombo border gate that trucks veer into oncoming lanes to avoid potholes spreading halfway across the road.
Mike Fitzmaurice, regional vice president of the African Union’s Organisation for Transport and Logistics, said: “The roads are in a worsening state and no one (government agencies) is doing anything about it.”
He said the Border Management Authority had been told about the operational difficulty deteriorating road conditions presented to transporters, “but they don’t seem to care”.
It’s not clear whether the Department of Public Works has been alerted to the issue, but it can’t be easy to work on such a crucial stretch of road so close to an important crossing for trade towards sub-Saharan Africa’s best-run port.
On various occasions in the past, several supply chain stakeholders involved with the “N4 Maputo Corridor” have pointed out that nagging congestion issues at the border stem from a transit that was never designed for such heavy trade.
Add to the equation the involvement of concessionaires DP World and Grindrod at Maputo, and the border regularly backlogs because of a well-run port, a fact confirmed year-on-year by the World Bank’s port performance index.
To make matters worse, solar light infrastructure on the last few kilometres to Lebombo is being struck down in what seems to be deliberate acts of theft-related vandalism.
“These lights have been installed for the safety of truck drivers who often have to wait in a queue on the way through to Ressano, but what we're seeing at the moment is pure criminality,” Fitzmaurice said.
“Once they’re struck down, the panels are stolen and the electric wiring ripped up. It doesn’t help drivers who already find it difficult to navigate the stretch of road between the border and Kilometre Seven,” the privately run truck park close to Lebombo.”
At night, the last few hundred metres to the border are particularly treacherous.
With a hill on one side and the Komati River on the other, drivers battle to navigate a blind corner made extra precarious because of potholes.
Now, without proper lighting, truck drivers are sitting ducks for criminals hiding in the blind spot area of the Lebombo Border Post.
“It’s a very dangerous situation and the transport community really needs the appropriate government agencies to take charge here,” Fitzmaurice said.
In addition to issues on the South African side of the border, customs in Mozambique is continuing to escort convoys of fuel tankers to Ressano Garcia in an attempt to curb Hazchem crime.
It means that all fuel imports destined for hinterland transport gather at Matola, from where a private security company escorts the tankers to the border in convoys twice daily.
Last week Fitzmaurice explained that it was causing major backlogging.
“Trucks gather at Kilometre Four (the truck-staging area at Ressano), from where they are released in batches to Lebombo. I can understand why Customs is doing this, but there must be a safer, more efficient way to prevent fuel theft. What they’re doing at the moment creates a very dangerous situation.”
He said the current issues at Lebombo and Ressano Garcia once again illustrated how authorities liked to talk about border harmonisation, but failed to keep pace with private-sector progress at ports like Maputo.
“The powers that be should talk less and do more.”
