Truck congestion hits Swazi border

MBABANE – SA’s Oshoek
border, the main entry
point to Swaziland, has
resembled such notoriously
congested border crossings
as Beitbridge and Zambia/
DRC for most of this
past week, with queues
of trucks reportedly
numbering more than 100
vehicles. When contacted
by FTW, Swaziland’s
customs authorities
were investigating the
congestion, the likes of
which they say they have
never before seen.
“Our people say the
problem is in South Africa,
and when I called South
Africa they said the problem
was on our side,” Dumisani
Masilela, Commissioner
General for the Swaziland
Revenue Authority (SRA),
told FTW.
Masilela, who heads a
new agency that combines
Swaziland’s former
Department of Income Tax
and Department of Customs
and Excise, said he had
been receiving calls about
trucks stuck at the border
for days and went on an
inspection of Oshoek last
Thursday.
Although there seems
some confusion over
a change in operating
procedures instituted by
Sars at the Oshoek border,
at the heart of the matter
is a simple and perennial
problem on the Swazi side –
limited parking for trucks.
FTW has learned that
Swaziland-bound drivers
clear SA customs and then
walk across to the Swazi
side for customs clearance
there, leaving their vehicles
in SA. The practice has
been going on for years, but
this past week SA border
authorities said enough was
enough, and insisted the
truckers drive through after
finishing with Sars.
The subsequent queues
have resulted from the
shortage of parking slots for
large rig trucks.
Stores awaiting stock and
factories requiring “just in
time” deliveries of inputs
were most affected.
However, some overnight
courier services with
smaller vehicles are able to
find space at the passenger
car parking bay outside the
Swazi border post office,
although this area is also
small and congested.
Border authorities
say they are working
on a compromise, but a
long-term solution will
only materialise with the
expansion of truck parking
on the Swazi side.