Officials from the Musina Local Municipality and Beitbridge Rural District Council in Zimbabwe held a meeting on Friday at the Musina Civic Centre for form joint committees aimed at improving service delivery in the two border towns, following their twinning arrangements under the auspices of the Trans-Limpopo Spatial Development Initiative.

The signing of the memorandum of understanding for the twinning agreement between the two municipalities was conducted in October 2004, as part of an effort to strengthen economic, social and cultural ties between Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Six committees, which comprise officials from both councils, were tasked to deal with issues such tourism, engineering, education, art, and culture, women, health and transport. Border delays on both sides and taxi wars involving South African and Zimbabwean operators were among the major concerns raised during the meeting.

Other stakeholders at the meeting expressed disappointment with the way the two border posts were manned, especially during the festive period when most people would be travelling between Zimbabwe and South Africa. The delays were said to be costly to travelers as they were taxing in terms of time and were also slowing down normal business processes.

Mr Dennis Chitsaka, from the Department of Immigration in Zimbabwe, said they were in the process of minimising delays by introducing new effective measures to decongest the border post during the festive season. Recently, an ailing Zimbabwean died at Beitbridge border post, following long hours of waiting in the queue for clearance. "We are introducing new measures to hasten the clearance of travellers using our border posts. However, we are aware that there are some people who tend to ignore protocol and as much as we want to quicken the clearance of travellers, we also would like to urge people that some formalities cannot be avoided when one crosses the border, as you just have to comply," he said.

The Musina municipal manager, Mr Abraham Luruli, stressed the need for harmonizing municipal operations as there was need for both Musina and Beitbridge to work together closely since they shared the same water bodies. Residents of Musina and Beitbridge use water from the Limpopo River.

The environment and engineering sub-committees also appealed for good relations between the two local authorities to address waste-water treatment plants, pollution levels, water-quality control and availability ahead of the 2010 World Cup soccer showcase in South Africa. The mayor of Musina, Mrs Caroline Mahasela, the Beitbridge Rural District Council´s chief executive officer, Mr Albert Mbedzi, Home Affairs and SARS officials, Zimbabwean Revenue Authority officials and councilors from the two municipalities were among the delegates who attended the meeting.