Travellers call for one-stop border post at Ramokgwebana

SHINGIRAI MADONDO
Correspondent | Thursday April 4, 2013 00:00

 

Thousands of travellers are still forced to contend with delays at the Ramokgwebana border post as immigration officials struggle to cope with the influx of vehicles and travelers entering and leaving the country.

Delays are mainly caused by a high turnout of Zimbabweans based in Botswana who usually travel home for the holidays. Approximately 8,000 individuals and over 2,000 vehicles pass through the Ramokgwebana border on a daily basis.During the Easter holidays, some travellers were forced to spend the night at the border gate as they queued for their turn. This unexpected turn of events left many travelers seething with anger.

'This is not fair. How can a person spend two days waiting to be cleared? 'The governments of these two countries should come up with initiatives that will solve this problem (of delays at the border post),' said an irate Thomas Chauke of Mbembesi in Zimbabwe.

Chauke said he had planned to spend time with his family during the Easter holidays but he was forced to drop off groceries and return to his base in Mahalapye. He further said the Ramokgwebana border post is currently the busiest inland port of entry in sub-Saharan Africa as it handles a huge volume of commercial traffic destined for countries such as Zambia, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Kgosi Paul Motshwane of Gerald Estates customary court was one of the irate  travellers who was headed to Zimbabwe for the Easter church conferences. He expressed displeasure with the treatment meted out to travelers by immigration officials of both countries, at the border post.

'Even the elderly had to stand in long queues the whole day. And chances are we are likely to leave this place by the middle of the night if not by tomorrow. We have an Easter conference in Bulawayo but we are already late,' he said. He complained that the immigration officials gave commercial transporters first preference. 'At this time of year people should be cleared first. I think government needs to speed up the one-stop border project,' he suggested.

Another Zimbabwean traveller said the one-stop border, similar to the one recently opened at Chirundu between Zimbabwe and Zambia, allows efficient movement of cargo and people. The travellers' worries seemed to have found a sympathetic ear in the government of Zimbabwe who seemed amenable to the idea when contacted.

During an interview with Mmegi Zimbabwe's Minister of Industry and Commerce, Welshman Ncube said they have proposed the establishment of a one-stop border post at the entry point between the two countries and efforts are already underway to engage Botswana on the issue.Efforts to get a comment from the Labour and Home Affairs Minister Edwin Batshu proved futile as his mobile phone rang unanswered at the time of going to press. 

The proposed one-stop border initiative is the Southern African Development Community (SADC) effort to integrate the economies of the sub-Saharan region and ensure free flow of goods and services among countries.

Harmonisation of customs and transit procedures at regional level is largely viewed as beneficial to the enhancement of export growth especially  to landlocked countries such as Botswana and Zimbabwe.