The Beit Bridge Border Post was  a hive of activity between Friday last week and Monday (7 November), as thousands of Zion Christian Church (ZCC) congregants crossed the border to Zimbabwe for a church conference in Bulawayo.

According to border officials, more than 50 000 ZCC members from various provinces in South Africa crossed the border to Zimbabwe on Friday. They were travelling in more than 500 buses, while others were using light vehicles.

A spokesperson at the Beit Bridge border on the South African side, Mr Michael Malindi, said traffic police, the SAPS, Home Affairs and SARS officials worked tirelessly  round the clock to clear the huge influx of travellers. The pre-clearance process was done at the Musina Show Grounds to avoid congestion and delays at the border.

“We have never handled such a huge influx of travellers at the Beit Bridge border, but all stakeholders joined hands and managed to process the travellers without delays. Our superiors were really impressed with the way we facilitated the smooth clearance of the ZCC members,” he said.

Malindi said more Home Affairs officials were deployed from other areas to beef up the staff complement at Beit Bridge border during that period. He said they also did not encounter problems on Monday when the ZCC members returned to South Africa.

On the Zimbabwean side, authorities had created a separate traffic lane for the buses and cars carrying the ZCC members to ease congestion. The local assistant regional immigration manager, Mr Charles Gwede, said they managed to speed up the process.

The Beit Bridge Border Post is the busiest inland port of entry in sub-Saharan Africa. It handles a huge influx of travellers passing through every day, including a huge volume of commercial traffic destined for countries such as Tanzania, Zambia, DRC and Malawi.

Bulawayo is the headquarters of the ZZC in Zimbabwe. The church's leader, the Right Reverend Bishop Dr Barnabas Edward Lekganyane, officially opened a new church building. It can accommodate 600 people. It is the first and only church to be built out of South Africa and it was built at a cost of R2 million.