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Border extremely busy during holidays

 

The number of travellers who passed through the Beit Bridge Border Post during the festive period shot up to more than 600 000 surpassing the previous season’s 524 511.

Zimbabwe’s assistant regional immigration manager in charge of the border post, Mr Charles Gwede, said they handled 646 779 travellers on both exit and arrivals sides between 1 December and 2 January.

The highest number of travellers was recorded on 21 December, when immigration officials cleared 36 130 travellers on both entry and exit sides. On the departure side, the highest number was recorded on January 2 when 15 324 people left Zimbabwe.

Gwede said most of the travellers that they cleared were Zimbabweans working in South Africa who had visited home for the Christmas holiday. Gwede attributed the increase in the number of travellers to the South African documentation exercise, which saw many Zimbabweans working in the country acquiring permits.

“Many of our people staying and working in South Africa are now documented after they acquired authentic permits during the regularisation exercise in that country, hence they can now travel freely”.

Unlike in January last year, the border was less congested. “We did not encounter major challenges this time, despite an increase in the number of travellers compared to previous years. This is partly because of a phenomenal shift in movement trends, coupled with our decongestion strategies. We harmonised our operations with our South African counterparts, which is precisely why we managed to arrest congestion. Once there is congestion on either side of the border, it automatically affects movement on both sides,” said Gwede.

He said the movement of travellers, especially Zimbabweans working in South Africa, was spread out as people travelled earlier compared to the previous years, a development that also contributed to a reduction in congestion.

Zimbabweans constitute the highest number of travellers using Beit Bridge Border Post.

Last year during this time, the border was characterised by long, winding queues of cars, which stretched for more than 10km on the road leading to the port of entry and, in the process, disrupting the smooth flow of traffic in Beit Bridge.

Beit Bridge Border Post handles about 8 000 travellers daily, with the figures doubling up during peak periods such as the festive period.

News - Date: 10 January 2014

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Mashudu Netsianda

Mashudu Netsianda is our correspondent in Beit Bridge, Zimbabwe. He joined us in 2006, writing both local and international stories. He had worked for several Zimbabwean publications, as well as the Times of Swaziland. Mashudu received his training at the School of Mass Communication in Harare.

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