Long queues of travellers have started to build up at the Beit Bridge Border Post between South Africa and Zimbabwe as travellers, mostly Zimbabweans, have started flocking home ahead of the festive period.

When Limpopo Mirror visited the border post on Tuesday, there was a high traffic volume and police visibility along the N1 highway leading to Musina. Holidaymakers were travelling from South Africa to Zimbabwe and countries further north, using the busy port of entry.

Authorities said they expected traffic congestion at the border to start building up over the weekend as Zimbabweans working in South Africa would be starting to flock home to spend Christmas with their families.

In an interview, Zimbabwe’s immigration manager in charge of Beit Bridge Border Post, Mr Charles Gwede, said that as part of their de-congestion drive, they had scrambled their shifts to maximize on manpower during the normal and extra peak days. “From 13 December we have been receiving a huge influx of travellers and anticipate a further increase over the coming weekend as more travellers will pass through the border for Christmas. We have dissolved our shifts to ensure that we have more officers per shift who will effectively manage the queues and speed up the clearance process."

Beit Bridge Border Post has a staff complement of 47 officers and support staff. Gwede said they had  been experiencing an increase in the number of travellers passing through the border since the closing of schools in Zimbabwe and South Africa. “We have suspended off and leave days for our staff from 13 December to 13 January next year. As border stakeholders, we held several inter-border meetings with our South African counterparts to discuss and explore ways and strategies aimed at dealing with congestion during extra peak periods," he added.

According to him, more service points for visitors will be created as a way of trying to decongest the border and reduce queues. "We want to make sure that people do not spend more than 30 minutes in the queues and those travelling in buses will be cleared according to the vehicle register to avoid unnecessary congestion,” said Gwede.

Last year during the Christmas holidays, travellers spent several days stranded at the border because of congestion and delays by immigration officials. During a recent Zimbabwe/South Africa Joint Permanent Commission on Defence and Security meeting in Bulawayo, the Home Affairs ministers from the two countries said they would come up with a range of measures to curb congestion and weed out criminal activity at the Beit Bridge Border Post during the festive season.

Beit Bridge is the busiest inland port of entry in sub-Saharan Africa, handling an average of 10 000 travellers daily, with the figures doubling up during peak periods such Christmas holiday.