News / Regional
Beitbridge conjestion worsens
04 Jan 2013 at 23:34hrs | Views
THERE was pandemonium in Beitbridge yesterday resulting in the disruption of the smooth flow of traffic in the border town following an increase in the volume of traffic passing through the border post into South Africa.
Long winding queues of both heavy and light vehicles, mostly South African registered cars and buses lining up on the road leading to Beitbridge Border Post and stretching for about 5km.
Police, immigration officers and New Limpopo Bridge Company workers had a torrid time trying to control the queues in a bid to reduce congestion at the country's busiest inland port of entry.
The assistant regional immigration manager in charge of Beitbridge Border Post, Mr Charles Gwede, attributed the sudden increase in the volume of traffic to failure by their South African counterparts to absorb pressure on their side.
"We were forced to hold up the cars for several hours largely because our South African counterparts are failing to absorb pressure on their side resulting in the long winding queues on our side," he said.
Mr Gwede said most of the people started travelling on Wednesday, a majority of which were Zimbabweans working in South Africa, commonly known as injiva flocking back to the neighbouring country following the end of the festive season.
When Chronicle newscrew visited the border post yesterday evening there were long queues of both human and vehicular traffic waiting to be cleared by customs and immigration officials on the departure side.
Mr Gwede said they expected the volume of both human and vehicular traffic to increase on exit side at the weekend.
"We are handling an increase in the volume of traffic as the number of people, mostly Zimbabweans working in South Africa have started going back following the end of the festive season.
"In fact, the numbers started increasing on Thursday and we expect the situation to get worse at the weekend," he said.
Mr Gwede, however, said so far they were managing the situation.
"As immigration department I can safely say right now everything is under control and our officers are efficiently managing the queues. We have also created separate immigration counters for buses as a way of easing congestion and ensure a smooth movement of travellers," he said.
Mr Gwede said as part of a decongestion drive they were working with police to control the movement of traffic into the border area.
"We are only allowing traffic to enter into the border in small batches so that we are able to reduce congestion," he said.
Beitbridge Border Post last year recorded a sharp increase in the number of travellers who passed through during the festive period compared to the previous year.
Most of the travellers were Zimbabweans working in South Africa who were visiting their families and relatives back home during Christmas.
Mr Gwede said they were yet to compile the statistics on the movement of travellers during the festive season.
He said on average they handled between 80 and 120 buses on either side during the peak period. The arrival side had short queues yesterday and the volume of traffic had also gone down substantially compared to the period during the run up to Christmas.
Beitbridge is reportedly the busiest inland port of entry in sub-Saharan Africa, which handles a huge volume of traffic mostly commercial vehicles including those destined for neighbouring countries such as Zambia, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
On average the border handles about 8 000 travellers daily with the figures increasing to 20 000 during the peak period such as the festive season.
Mr Gwede said in an effort to speed up the clearance of travellers, they had suspended leave and off-days for their staff between 15 December last year and 16 January.
Meanwhile, on the South African side, long winding queues of cars and people were the order of the day as overwhelmed border officials battled to clear the huge influx of travellers entering their country.
The queues stretched to the main entry gate into the border yard.
South Africa's Border Control Operation Coordinating Committee (BCOCC) spokesperson, Mr Patrick Moengs had earlier told this paper that they were reviewing plans to address congestion at their side of the border.
Long winding queues of both heavy and light vehicles, mostly South African registered cars and buses lining up on the road leading to Beitbridge Border Post and stretching for about 5km.
Police, immigration officers and New Limpopo Bridge Company workers had a torrid time trying to control the queues in a bid to reduce congestion at the country's busiest inland port of entry.
The assistant regional immigration manager in charge of Beitbridge Border Post, Mr Charles Gwede, attributed the sudden increase in the volume of traffic to failure by their South African counterparts to absorb pressure on their side.
"We were forced to hold up the cars for several hours largely because our South African counterparts are failing to absorb pressure on their side resulting in the long winding queues on our side," he said.
Mr Gwede said most of the people started travelling on Wednesday, a majority of which were Zimbabweans working in South Africa, commonly known as injiva flocking back to the neighbouring country following the end of the festive season.
When Chronicle newscrew visited the border post yesterday evening there were long queues of both human and vehicular traffic waiting to be cleared by customs and immigration officials on the departure side.
Mr Gwede said they expected the volume of both human and vehicular traffic to increase on exit side at the weekend.
"We are handling an increase in the volume of traffic as the number of people, mostly Zimbabweans working in South Africa have started going back following the end of the festive season.
"In fact, the numbers started increasing on Thursday and we expect the situation to get worse at the weekend," he said.
Mr Gwede, however, said so far they were managing the situation.
"As immigration department I can safely say right now everything is under control and our officers are efficiently managing the queues. We have also created separate immigration counters for buses as a way of easing congestion and ensure a smooth movement of travellers," he said.
"We are only allowing traffic to enter into the border in small batches so that we are able to reduce congestion," he said.
Beitbridge Border Post last year recorded a sharp increase in the number of travellers who passed through during the festive period compared to the previous year.
Most of the travellers were Zimbabweans working in South Africa who were visiting their families and relatives back home during Christmas.
Mr Gwede said they were yet to compile the statistics on the movement of travellers during the festive season.
He said on average they handled between 80 and 120 buses on either side during the peak period. The arrival side had short queues yesterday and the volume of traffic had also gone down substantially compared to the period during the run up to Christmas.
Beitbridge is reportedly the busiest inland port of entry in sub-Saharan Africa, which handles a huge volume of traffic mostly commercial vehicles including those destined for neighbouring countries such as Zambia, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
On average the border handles about 8 000 travellers daily with the figures increasing to 20 000 during the peak period such as the festive season.
Mr Gwede said in an effort to speed up the clearance of travellers, they had suspended leave and off-days for their staff between 15 December last year and 16 January.
Meanwhile, on the South African side, long winding queues of cars and people were the order of the day as overwhelmed border officials battled to clear the huge influx of travellers entering their country.
The queues stretched to the main entry gate into the border yard.
South Africa's Border Control Operation Coordinating Committee (BCOCC) spokesperson, Mr Patrick Moengs had earlier told this paper that they were reviewing plans to address congestion at their side of the border.
Source - TC
