News / Regional
Travellers stuck in queues for long hours at Botswana Border Post
02 Apr 2013 at 22:16hrs | Views
Beitbridge border post - Photo by Prisca Vundhla
SCORES of travellers are being forced to return home after being stuck in queues for long hours a the Botswana Border Post because the authorities are failing to cope due to shortage of staff.
In an interview yesterday, the assistant regional immigration officer-in-charge of the western region, Mr Nqobile Ncube, said by lunch yesterday about 20 travellers had returned home after being stuck on the Botswana side while 40 others met the same fate on Monday.
"We have cases of people who have been returning to the country without crossing into Botswana for the past two days. These are travellers that we were clearing in the early hours of the day, but upon reaching the Botswana side, some of them have been giving up after being stuck for long hours in the queue.
"Some of the people were expecting to return home on the same day, but after being held up at the border, they gave up and came back," he said.
Mr Ncube said when they engaged their Botswana counterparts, they said they were failing to cope because they were understaffed.
"We have talked to our Botswana counterparts with regards to the issue and they have indicated that this time around they were not facing challenges with their system but they were understaffed because they did not have relief workers.
"As a result, they have been unable to cope as many travellers have been trickling back to the neighbouring country," he said.
Mr Ncube said it would be better for travellers to use Mphoengs Border Post when they face such challenges as the Botswana side usually struggled to handle an influx of travellers.
"It would be wise for travellers to consider using Mphoengs Border Post in situations like these as many people have been complaining of long queues at the Botswana side. I am yet to go to our Botswana counterparts but when I talked to them, they indicated that they had the situation under control as they had made progress in clearing the queues but this is in contrast with reports from returning travellers.
"The problem of travellers being stuck on the Botswana side has been an ongoing challenge and it usually occurs when people travel a lot, that is during holidays and we do not know how the neighbouring country will finally overcome this challenge," he said.
Mr Ncube said the figures for travellers who had been cleared during the Easter Holiday had not been analysed.
"We have not analysed the number of travellers we cleared but the figures did not reach a critical level and we managed to handle the pressure without any challenges.
"The largest number of travellers was recorded on Friday night entering into Saturday as that is when we experienced the largest wave of movement which resulted in us knocking off at about 2am," said Mr Ncube.
A traveller who identified herself as Mrs Agnes Khumalo from Plumtree, who failed to travel to Botswana and returned to the Zimbabwean side at about 2pm yesterday, said she gave up after spending more than six hours in the queue.
"I was cleared at the Zimbabwean side around 7am and my intentions were to buy some products in Francistown for resale in the country and make it back home on the same day but I decided to return as I had left my three-month-old baby at home.
"Being delayed at the Botswana side is a challenge that we have been continuously facing and our hope is that this problem can be rectified as the delays are inconveniencing us," she said.
The Botswana government has since phased out Zimbabwean Temporary Travel Documents with effect from Monday.
Mr Ncube said they had recorded a few cases of people who had been returned after producing the document.
Meanwhile, immigration authorities at Beitbridge Border Post handled 85 518 travellers during the Easter Holiday, an increase compared to 78 939 during the same period last year.
The assistant regional immigration manager in charge of the border post, Mr Charles Gwede, said the border post was less congested compared to previous years during the same period. "We handled a total of 85 526 travellers who passed through Beitbridge Border Post during the Easter Holiday. The border was less busy and there was no congestion compared to other Easter holidays and the festive season.
"This is largely because the two holidays are close and those who travelled during the December holiday might possibly have decided not to travel in anticipation of congestion and spending several hours in the queues," he said.
The highest number of travellers was recorded on Monday when 20 089 people passed through the entry port.
The least number of travellers who passed through Beitbridge was on Saturday which saw 14 365 people using the border post.
Mr Gwede said the border was busy on the departure side compared to the entry section.
On the departure side immigration officials handled 49 439 travellers while on the arrival side they recorded 36 079 travellers.
Zimbabweans constituted the highest number of travellers who passed through the border during the holiday period.
The volume of traffic also went down during the holidays following the closure of the South African Revenue Service commercial section, which mainly handles heavy duty vehicles.
Zimbabwe Revenue Authority officials (Zimra) said they handled an average of 1 000 cars per day during the Easter holiday.
Mr Gwede said immigration officials efficiently managed the situation following the deployment of 16 relief officers from other stations.
"We had put the necessary mechanisms in place to deal with an anticipated congestion during the holiday period," he said.
When Chronicle visited the border post during the holiday period, both departure and arrival sides were characterised by short queues.
Immigration officials at Beitbridge Border Post held an inter-border meeting with their South African counterparts and other local key stakeholders during the run up to the Easter Holiday.
The meeting was aimed at exploring various strategies to ensure quick clearance of travellers during the holiday period.
Clearance of travellers on the South African side had also improved during the holiday following a visit by that country's Home Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor and her director-general, Mr Mkuseli Apleni on Thursday to check on the performance of their border systems.
More officers were also deployed at the border and a pre-clearance facility had also been created at Musina Showground as part of a decongestion strategy.
Traditionally, immigration officials at Beitbridge Border Post handle an increased number of travellers during Easter and Christmas holidays.
Beitbridge Border Post is the busiest inland port of entry in sub-Saharan Africa, which handles a huge volume of both human and vehicular traffic passing though daily.
Commercial trucks destined for East and Central African countries such as Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia pass through the border post. On average the border handles about 10 000 people daily on both entry and exit sides with the number increasing to about 25 000 during peak periods.
In an interview yesterday, the assistant regional immigration officer-in-charge of the western region, Mr Nqobile Ncube, said by lunch yesterday about 20 travellers had returned home after being stuck on the Botswana side while 40 others met the same fate on Monday.
"We have cases of people who have been returning to the country without crossing into Botswana for the past two days. These are travellers that we were clearing in the early hours of the day, but upon reaching the Botswana side, some of them have been giving up after being stuck for long hours in the queue.
"Some of the people were expecting to return home on the same day, but after being held up at the border, they gave up and came back," he said.
Mr Ncube said when they engaged their Botswana counterparts, they said they were failing to cope because they were understaffed.
"We have talked to our Botswana counterparts with regards to the issue and they have indicated that this time around they were not facing challenges with their system but they were understaffed because they did not have relief workers.
"As a result, they have been unable to cope as many travellers have been trickling back to the neighbouring country," he said.
Mr Ncube said it would be better for travellers to use Mphoengs Border Post when they face such challenges as the Botswana side usually struggled to handle an influx of travellers.
"It would be wise for travellers to consider using Mphoengs Border Post in situations like these as many people have been complaining of long queues at the Botswana side. I am yet to go to our Botswana counterparts but when I talked to them, they indicated that they had the situation under control as they had made progress in clearing the queues but this is in contrast with reports from returning travellers.
"The problem of travellers being stuck on the Botswana side has been an ongoing challenge and it usually occurs when people travel a lot, that is during holidays and we do not know how the neighbouring country will finally overcome this challenge," he said.
Mr Ncube said the figures for travellers who had been cleared during the Easter Holiday had not been analysed.
"We have not analysed the number of travellers we cleared but the figures did not reach a critical level and we managed to handle the pressure without any challenges.
"The largest number of travellers was recorded on Friday night entering into Saturday as that is when we experienced the largest wave of movement which resulted in us knocking off at about 2am," said Mr Ncube.
A traveller who identified herself as Mrs Agnes Khumalo from Plumtree, who failed to travel to Botswana and returned to the Zimbabwean side at about 2pm yesterday, said she gave up after spending more than six hours in the queue.
"I was cleared at the Zimbabwean side around 7am and my intentions were to buy some products in Francistown for resale in the country and make it back home on the same day but I decided to return as I had left my three-month-old baby at home.
"Being delayed at the Botswana side is a challenge that we have been continuously facing and our hope is that this problem can be rectified as the delays are inconveniencing us," she said.
The Botswana government has since phased out Zimbabwean Temporary Travel Documents with effect from Monday.
Mr Ncube said they had recorded a few cases of people who had been returned after producing the document.
Meanwhile, immigration authorities at Beitbridge Border Post handled 85 518 travellers during the Easter Holiday, an increase compared to 78 939 during the same period last year.
The assistant regional immigration manager in charge of the border post, Mr Charles Gwede, said the border post was less congested compared to previous years during the same period. "We handled a total of 85 526 travellers who passed through Beitbridge Border Post during the Easter Holiday. The border was less busy and there was no congestion compared to other Easter holidays and the festive season.
"This is largely because the two holidays are close and those who travelled during the December holiday might possibly have decided not to travel in anticipation of congestion and spending several hours in the queues," he said.
The highest number of travellers was recorded on Monday when 20 089 people passed through the entry port.
The least number of travellers who passed through Beitbridge was on Saturday which saw 14 365 people using the border post.
Mr Gwede said the border was busy on the departure side compared to the entry section.
On the departure side immigration officials handled 49 439 travellers while on the arrival side they recorded 36 079 travellers.
Zimbabweans constituted the highest number of travellers who passed through the border during the holiday period.
The volume of traffic also went down during the holidays following the closure of the South African Revenue Service commercial section, which mainly handles heavy duty vehicles.
Zimbabwe Revenue Authority officials (Zimra) said they handled an average of 1 000 cars per day during the Easter holiday.
Mr Gwede said immigration officials efficiently managed the situation following the deployment of 16 relief officers from other stations.
"We had put the necessary mechanisms in place to deal with an anticipated congestion during the holiday period," he said.
When Chronicle visited the border post during the holiday period, both departure and arrival sides were characterised by short queues.
Immigration officials at Beitbridge Border Post held an inter-border meeting with their South African counterparts and other local key stakeholders during the run up to the Easter Holiday.
The meeting was aimed at exploring various strategies to ensure quick clearance of travellers during the holiday period.
Clearance of travellers on the South African side had also improved during the holiday following a visit by that country's Home Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor and her director-general, Mr Mkuseli Apleni on Thursday to check on the performance of their border systems.
More officers were also deployed at the border and a pre-clearance facility had also been created at Musina Showground as part of a decongestion strategy.
Traditionally, immigration officials at Beitbridge Border Post handle an increased number of travellers during Easter and Christmas holidays.
Beitbridge Border Post is the busiest inland port of entry in sub-Saharan Africa, which handles a huge volume of both human and vehicular traffic passing though daily.
Commercial trucks destined for East and Central African countries such as Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia pass through the border post. On average the border handles about 10 000 people daily on both entry and exit sides with the number increasing to about 25 000 during peak periods.
Source - TC
