Taiwan grant helps jack up Swazi customs procedures

JAMES HALL
MBABANE – Swaziland’s border post customs operations will be computerised and upgraded through a grant from the Republic of China (Taiwan).
Taiwan has given R5.545 million on top of nearly
R900 000 spent on the installation of computers and software at all customs offices, including Mahamba, Matsamo and Oshoek, utilised by road freight traffic from Gauteng, Lavumisa, gateway to Durban, and the new Mhlumeni border post en route to Maputo. The computers will be linked to SARS’ Customs Automated Systems to cut down on time truckers have to wait at border checkpoints.
“The project will strengthen government’s revenue collection and cut down on fraud,” a government source told FTW.
Road freight hauliers hail other benefits, including the speeding up of cargo processing and a better likelihood that errors will be minimised.
“There’s always the human element linked to the computer that’s problematic, but we thank the Chinese for their assistance because a state-of-the-art customs computer system is essential for effective road transport,” the manager of a trucking firm located at the Matsapha Industrial Estate in central Swaziland told FTW.