The move is meant to frustrate those who intend to or have been dodging Namibia's enforcement of a SACU ban on the importation of vehicles, which are more than five years old. To evade the prohibition, individuals and companies have been importing and registering vehicles over the age limit in Botswana and then taking them to Namibia immediately. Botswana does not enforce the SACU ban, hence it has become a favourite route for Namibians with an appetite for cheaper imported cars over the age limit. BURS communications manager Refilwe Mogami, said they decided to act after Namibian authorities approached them over the matter.
"We decided to flag every imported car temporarily for six months so that those with intentions of moving the cars to Namibia will have to be honest with the system. We have not yet decided to stop any imports yet," Mogami said. The cars will only get a permanent registration after the six months period, a move BURS believes will discourage the importers. He dismissed reports in the Namibia media that Botswana has banned the importation of vehicles, which are more than five years old. Recent reports from Statistics Botswana have revealed that over 19,388 new registrations of vehicles were made between June last year to January this year, just over 16 percent up in the same period in 2011. The statistics show that Botswana is among developing countries with the highest vehicle density pegged at 216 vehicles per 1,000 people. The government is yet to table, the Draft National Integrated Transport Policy, which seeks to control the increase of motor vehicles to curb problems such as traffic congestion and pollution. According to a Botswana Auto Industry Update 2012 report, new vehicle sales growth in Botswana is forecast at an average of 8.1% year-on-year growth between 2012 and 2016. This is modest considering the fact that sales of new passenger cars in Botswana grew by over 20 percent in 2007, 2008 and 2010.
