Shortage of clearance documents scuppers over-border vehicle exports

A major shortage of clearance
documents is hampering vehicle
and machinery exports into
Africa, leading to millions of
rands in lost revenue due to
delays, according to a group of
concerned cross-border clearing
agents.
The Southern African
Regional Police Chiefs
Co-operation Organisation
(SARPCCO) clearance
documents are a legal
requirement for the export of
vehicles.
FTW was alerted to the
issue by Pat Corbin, director
of the International Chamber
of Commerce (ICC), who was
contacted by the agents who
said they were at “the end of
their tether” after a more than
16-month battle to get clear
answers from the South African
Police Service (SAPS) about why
there were not enough clearance
documents available.
The agents – fearing
victimisation by various
branches of SAPS, thus
speaking to FTW on condition
of anonymity – explained
that the SARPCCO clearance
certificate was a vehicle’s
passport across the border.
“If our clients don’t have
that document, no truck,
motor vehicle or piece of heavy
mining or farming equipment
will be allowed to enter into
the country of destination and
be registered there,” he said,
noting that his had led to the
cancellation of several business
transactions.
“Some of our clients export
up to 50 heavy duty commercial
vehicles per month and have
not been able to meet delivery
demands because SAPS officials
just shrug off the fact that there
are not enough documents.”
Another agent told FTW
that as far as he knew, no
new SARPCCO books – each
containing 30 documents – had
been printed in the past four to
five years.
Exporters – and agents
acting on behalf of exporters
– were now allowed two
documents per day, he added
“To meet the needs of our
clients, we require about five to
six documents per day.”
He said that prior to 2015,
when the documents were easily
available, his agency could
complete an export order and
get up to 30 vehicles cleared to
cross the border within 10 days.
“Now it takes
an average of
over a month
because we can
only do two a
day,” he said.
A few agents
have taken to
working with
the police
to source
books from
outlying areas.
“Obviously
the shortage
of documents
is more
pronounced in Gauteng so we
have taken to phoning other
police stations as far afield
as the Western, Eastern and
Northern Cape to see if they
don’t have spare SARPCCO
books. When they do, we will
sometimes travel to a region,
accompanied by an SAPS
official, to collect those books.”
Yet their efforts are not
rewarded. “Regardless of what
we do to help source books,
those books go straight to the
police and we are still limited
to our daily allocation of two
books per day.”
Despite
the lack of
documents, one
agent suggested,
there were other
shippers who
managed to
source enough
documents per
day to meet
their clients’
needs. “We are
losing business
to these agents
who somehow
manage to
get their hands on the extra
documents,” he commented.
“A SARPCCO document has
become a hot commodity and it
seems there are still documents
available to those willing to pay
for them off the record.”
Furthermore, it seemed
some clearing agents were
also able to bypass the
mandatory inspection at a
Vehicle Identification and
Safeguarding (VIS) Unit in
Gauteng. “I actually had a client
tell me he had saved a fortune
through XYZ agency who had
the contacts to save him a trip
to the inspection centre,” he
pointed out, explaining that
it could cost up to R15 000 to
get a heavy haul vehicle to an
inspection centre.
Colonel Stefan Vermaak,
head of the Vehicle
Identification and Safeguarding
(VIS) Unit in Gauteng,
admitted that there had been
a shortage of SARPCCO
documents in Gauteng but
said that new books had been
ordered and obtained from
other branches where the
documents were not in such
high demand.
“In cases where there was a
shortage, agents or exporters
did not have to wait more
than two or three days for new
documents,” he said, telling
FTW that it was “not true” that
only two documents were issued
per day.
INSERT
A SARPCCO document
has become a hot
commodity and it
seems there are still
documents available
to those willing to
pay for them.