Zim 'go slow' clogs up Beitbridge border

A go-slow by the Zimbabwe
Revenue Authority (Zimra)
held up import and export
trucks at the Beitbridge
border post for up to three
days last week, according to
Brian Kalshoven, MD of the
Beitbridge Border Clearing
Agency.
A road transport
operator with an office in
Messina told Kalshoven
there had been delays
for both incoming and
outgoing trucks at the Zim
side of the border post.
“He said that a transit of
the whole border post was
taking 2-3 days. There are
queues at both the Zimra
offices and at the export
scanner on their side.”
According to a Voice of
America (VOA) Studio 7
report last week, Zimra
had reportedly dispatched
a team from its loss and
control department to
investigate the development.
Trucks were blocking
both the exit and entry sides
of the border, it added, and
some were accusing Zimra
of insisting on carrying
out long searches without
adequate staff to carry out
the task.
Pumula legislator
and member of the
parliament’s transport
portfolio committee,
Albert Mhlanga, told VOA
the problem at the border
post could also be a result
of corruption by some
government officials.
The
normal
timing for
export trucks
to clear
Beitbridge is
usually about
half a day on
the SA side,
and – with
duties and
levies and the
like –it takes
about one and
a half days on
the Zimbabwe
side.
But the
go-slow has
doubled that.
And there is
no indication
when that will
end.