Task force tackles Beitbridge shambles

Alan Peat A TASK force representing all interested parties met on Wednesday to resolve the Beitbridge border debacle which has seen trucks delayed for four to five days during the past week. The border post - the main artery between SA and Zimbabwe - was expected to become more fluid today (February 28). “Our wonderful department of transport and the traffic authorities are, as usual, doing nothing - but blaming the construction, the weather, and even the war with Iraq,” said a frustrated Adrian Friend of the Celtic Group. “It’s a disgrace, and must be costing the country millions in lost time and trade.” To page 16 From page 1 This comment was followed by a set of photographs of the queues of stationary vehicles from a very upset Jeremy Bryan of Mopani Clearing who had nearly pulled all his hair out trying to get customs and traffic to help him. A major meeting held last Friday (February 21) saw the formulation of an action plan. The meeting, said Edward Little, executive director of the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF), was a joint gathering of all concerned - representatives of the association; customs officials from both sides of the border; clearing and forwarding agents; the transport department; the traffic police; transporters and others. There is a whole variety of problems, according to Little. “A major concern is that a lot of these vehicles are carrying fuel and LPG gas,” he said. “All nose-to-tail, so that if one goes up, there’s sympathetic detonation and Messina and the border post will cease to exist.” Reconstruction work Said Brian Kalshoven, m.d. of Beitbridge Border Clearing Agency, and the local chairman of SAAFF: “Because both border posts chose to do reconstruction work simultaneously, vehicles couldn’t get into the truck parks on either side of the bridge and have just been parking all along the road.” This was compounded by the traffic department failing to control traffic - and trucks parking willy-nilly, and jamming in those which had been customs cleared and were ready to go. “Also,” said Kalshoven, “new customs procedures have just been introduced - again on both sides of the border. “We’ve been trying to get them to realise that we don’t need blockers, we need facilitators. But, while we met with both sets of customs a week ago, nothing happened, and things only got worse.” But the latest meeting of high-level authorities from all sides of the affair seems to have had some effect, Kalshoven added.