Ramokgwebana border lull amid Zim unrests
Koketso Kgoboge | Friday November 17, 2017 11:58
The army has seized control of Zimbabwe and President Robert Mugabe and his family are confined to his house.
In a normal day, Ramokgwebana border gate is one of the busiest in Botswana. Most of the Zimbabwean traders use the border on a daily basis to travel between Francistown and Harare. They buy products here to resell in their country.
The current inflow at the border has hit an all time low. When the Mmegi crew visited the border there was partial movement. A sight of the border facility looked more like a school during school holidays.
Inside the immigration office, officials are relaxed as travellers drip at different intervals in one and twos.
Most of the people congregating around the premises are Batswana; a few of those coming in from Zimbabwe, on interactions with the Mmegi crew are from Plumtree.
Outside the border gate, empty mini buses are packed with their operators resting inside the buses failing to fill up the empty seats.
In a mini mall made of shacks outside the gate, cooks are sitting around the dining tables designed for the customers. Food is ready but there is no one to buy.
“During normal days the food would have long been finished and the shops would have been closed,” a restaurateur Babili Simi said.
“The movement reduced about two months ago but we still made good profits but since Monday, we stick here the whole day and carry this food home. There is no movement.”
Mbakiso Tamolobe, who provides shuttle services from Francistown to the border, said the introduction of the bond currency reduced the movement but traders were still able to continue with business.
Having been plying the route since 2010, Tamolobe said he had regular customers. However, they have disappeared since the former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa was sacked.
Mwangagwa’s sacking is said to have triggered the military action.
“The introduction of the bond killed Zimbabwean traders but after Mnangagwa fled Zimbabwe things changed. Some of the people I saw everyday disappeared.
“People from Harare are hard to meet nowadays. This week there has been a very low movement with combis struggling. The people are also fearful, there is no freedom of movement in Zimbabwe and they are also scared to speak about what is going on,” he said.
One woman from Plumtree who chose not to be identified said she is scared. She said Plumtree is business as usual but the soldiers can be identified in some areas wondering around the town.
Another one who also chose not to be identified, a goods transporter from Johannesburg to Plumtree said what happens back at home is a blessing in disguise for his business.
“When I got to Zim (Zimbabwe) this week there was no police all the way. I am making a handsome profit now. Police have been terrorising us; we paid for next to nothing. I think it’s a good thing what the army is doing.”
Meanwhile, at the border a mini truck was detained found along the fence with barrels of petrol, diesel and paraffin.