Weighbridge moves into action at Botswana border

Kevin Mayhew A COMPULSORY weighbridge for heavy goods vehicles has moved into operation at the Grobler’s Bridge border post with Botswana. It’s a joint initiative between the road transport industry, represented by the Federation of East and Southern African Road Transport Associations (FESARTA), and several government agencies including SARS Customs. “For many years, overloading of heavy goods vehicles has been a problem on SADC roads, most particularly on the route between Gauteng and Zambia/DRC, via Botswana,” says SARS spokesman, Sechaba Nkosi. “The timing of the introduction of the weighbridge ahead of the peak holiday traffic period is therefore no coincidence. It is aimed at addressing some of the problems experienced,” Nkosi said. The system will not inconvenience legally loaded vehicles as the Limpopo Road Traffic Department will make every effort to ensure that the operating hours of the weighbridge are extended to prevent queues from forming. Once implemented and established at Grobler’s Bridge, the system is expected to be extended to other border posts in the SADC region. The chief executive officer of the Road Freight Association (RFA), Sipho Khumalo, said the organisation welcomed any moves to curb overloading as one of its core concerns. Recently it announced the introduction of a load accreditation programme to be rolled out nationally next year. This is designed to promote sector self-regulation with regard to overloading and was successfully piloted in the forestry sector. “This initiative dovetails with the Grobler’s Bridge measures,” he said. The new procedure: n All heavy goods vehicles en route to the Grobler’s Bridge border post will be required to be weighed at the Limpopo Province weighbridge, eight kilometres before the border post on the South African side; n Legally loaded vehicles will receive a weighbridge printout, stamped “Vehicle/Combination Legally Loaded” and signed by the Traffic Officer on duty; n Customs has the right to call for this document and the driver will be required to make this document available to Customs at the border post, and n If Customs calls for the document and the driver is unable to produce it, then the vehicle/combination will not be permitted to transit through the border post.