Road freight through South Africa’s Lebombo Border Post into Mozambique was flowing freely on Wednesday morning, indicating little, if any, holdups on the Ressano Garcia side of the N4 Corridor crossing to the Port of Maputo.
But the relatively easy-going back-and-forth passage of ore trucks through the routinely problematic border, notoriously congested by volumes exceeding customs capacity, could be short-lived.
From Mozambique it’s reported that Venâncio Mondlane, presidential candidate of the opposition Podemos party, is again calling for “peaceful demonstrations” against the allegedly rigged October 9 election results, which favoured the ruling Frelimo party.
Mondlane has called on his supporters to voice their opposition from November 20 through a traffic protest.
Demonstrators are expected to stop their cars in traffic at noon every day, honking horns, and indicating their support for Podemos by either dressing in black or wearing one item of black clothing.
A continuation of the “revolution of the pots”, whereby people bang on pots and pans from the balconies of apartment blocks, from 9pm every night, is also being encouraged.
A Freight News source living in Komatipoort confirmed that all was quiet at the border, but said: “I don’t know for how long.
“People in Mozambique say they’re done with Frelimo. They’ve been in power since 1975 and they want them gone.”
In the meantime, bad behaviour from all concerned seems to have returned to the border, especially at night, with ore trucks going into oncoming lanes to skip eastbound tippers queuing towards the Lebombo gate on the right side of the road.
Law enforcement is also very slack, as has been reported on various occasions in the past.
Video footage sent through clearly shows how an on-duty traffic officer is sleeping in a marked car, parked on the side of the highway, while the N4 gets jammed with traffic heading towards the border, completely blocking the left-hand lane for oncoming traffic.
“That’s how it is here,” the Komatipoort source said, his name being withheld for reasons of security.
“We keep talking to transporters about driver behaviour but I don’t think they really care. It’s also all about keeping loads going through to the port.”
