South African Parliament says concerned about Beitbridge congestion

SOUTH AFRICA's parliament has voiced concern over the volume of human traffic coming and exiting the neighbouring country through the Beitbridge border post amid the second wave of Covid-19 hitting both countries.

According to South African media, parliament's portfolio committee on Home Affairs called for urgent intervention at the Beitbridge border post.

There have been concerns raised over the large number of travellers at the border into Zimbabwe.

This comes as South Africa battles to curb the spread of COVID-19 amid a second wave.

The congestion at the Beitbridge border post during the festive season is nothing new.

But this is no normal year-end.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, travellers have to produce a negative test not older than 72 hours before being allowed to cross the border.

But enforcing this is likely to be difficult as the queues at the border post see many camping out there before crossing into Zimbabwe.

There are concerns that the travellers passing through Beitbridge – some of whom started their journey in the Western Cape – may have their certificates expire before they cross the border.

Chairperson of the parliamentary committee, Bongani Bongo, said that while they understood the need to travel past borders for trade, strategies should have been put in place to mitigate this.

He said that the congestion had also highlighted the urgent need have the border management agency function to improve the agility in dealing with situations like this.