The South African experience of crossing borders

Clive Emdon records some frank answers to leading questions, provided on condition of anonymity. FTW: Is Customs the main culprit in slowing things down at the borders? Company X: “If Customs feels like taking 4 or 5 hours to do my documents we just have to smile and bear it. They always talk about partnerships but they are a law unto themselves. “We often have documents returned to the drivers that are not stamped, even though some of them have the pro-number (tracking number) on them. When we take them back to the border and request that they stamp them, they refuse. “Numerous meetings, e-mails and telephone conversations have all been fruitless. What in effect happens is that the exporter cannot get the stamped document from us so they do not pay us for that shipment. “In this year alone I have lost over R100 000. Their attitude is that they do not make mistakes. Even when you show them the pro-number on the document they will not make the effort to look for the document to make sure that it did pass the border and stamp it. To me it looks as if they would then have to admit they have made a mistake or are too lazy to do so.” Company Y: “To place the blame of delays at the borders at the feet of Customs is not fair. There is a combination of reasons for delays and operators can assist in minimising these.” Clive Emdon records some frank answers to leading questions, provided on condition of anonymity. The South African experience of crossing borders Company Z: "The delays are due to the agents rather than Customs. They don‘t take the initiative in solving problems and are slow to react. They are not ready for our drivers although they have been informed in advance. There are ‘brief-case agents’ there to get the job done while the bigger clearing agents on the border just don’t care. “Our worst experience is crossing into Zambia by pontoon at Kazangulu where 40% of the time one of the two pontoons is out of commission. They can only take one big vehicle at a time and the 1-8ton trucks get preference. This can cause a 4 to 5-day delay.” FTW: What are the main problems at the borders? Company X: "The main gripe is the fact that they make my trucks wait because we have a lot of entries. "At Skilpadshek we have the further frustration in that they are not able to access the EDI entries that we have already done. Their systems need to be up and running properly and this should speed things up quite a lot. On the other hand it might take longer because of their computer skills. "If somebody makes a mistake on a document and it does not affect the value in any way, Customs should not be so fast in issuing fines. If it is obvious that somebody is trying to defraud them then I agree that they should be fined heavily." "They look for mistakes. The reason for this is that budgets are forced down on the border posts. As far as I am concerned that is wrong. I would prefer it if they rather did random inspections of loads and actually caught those who smuggle. After all on exports there is basically no income for SARS, so why be petty?" Company Y: "We have set up communication channels with customs and there is a genuine effort to improve service at various borders." FTW: Are bribes expected? Do you provide drivers with bribes simply to keep things moving? What amounts are paid? Company X: "We refuse to pay any bribes as they already get paid to do their jobs. If any of my drivers are approached they will not tell me. "If I take it up with their head office in Pretoria. They then victimise us." Company Y: “We have a policy of zero tolerance when dealing with corruption. We do not entertain the idea in any form.” Company Z: “We regard bribery as a way of avoiding the system – not having to pay tariffs or duties, and no forfeiture for not having the proper documentation for example. “We find we have to pay for things to be done quickly… small amounts. It’s more an incentive than anything. It’s part of the African mentality. If you don’t have cash in your pocket you won’t get anywhere. We need to get in first in the queue. So it’s an encouragement, a wakeup fee. “In Zimbabwe the customs officials drag their feet until you flash something. We have an express service where we need to get our trucks to Zambia within 36 hours.”