Presidential intervention sought to extend SA-Moz border hours

ALAN PEAT IT LOOKS as if the border hours issue between SA and Mozambique is going to reach an inter-presidential level, according to information released to FTW by the Maputo Corridor Logistics Initiative (MCLI). This, companies in the initiative agree, is a key obstacle to growth in traffic along the Maputo Corridor – where currently SA trucks heading for Maputo port can be delayed at the border in long queues for many hours, with all the additional costs that this incurs. Not only are the border facilities cramped, but are only open for 13 hours a day. There is a proposal to keep the border open until 22:00, but, said MCLI executive director Brenda Horne, business will only be satisfied with 24-hour opening. The MCLI, therefore, has called for the issue to be included in the agenda of the next presidential meeting. And this seems to have been heard in high places. SA high commissioner Thandi Lujabe-Rankoe, has agreed with MCLI that the complaints were legitimate. “We acknowledge that the border poses a serious challenge,” she said. She also revealed that the two presidents, Armando Guebuza of Mozambique and Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, will be meeting within the next few months and they would receive a presentation on solutions for the border issue. A second problem that is also very much under the spotlight is the poor state of the Maputo-Ressano Garcia railway. This followed a consortium headed by SA rail company Spoornet failing to take up its lease on the line. “This,” said Horne, “left the Mozambiquan government with little option but to cancel the lease in November 2005. The Mozambique port and railway company CFM is now upgrading the line with its own resources.”