Curfew affects cargo movement across borders

Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
The ongoing curfew has affected the smooth movement of commercial cargo across the borders, especially at Beitbridge.

Zimbabwe has a curfew which runs between 6PM and 6AM, while South Africa’s is between 11PM and 4AM.

In addition, freight forwarders who process documents for commercial goods in land and at the borders are now closing shop between 3PM and 6PM to observe lockdown regulations.

An estimated 40 000 commercial trucks are handled at Beitbridge Border Post, monthly. Most will be in transit to Malawi, Tanzania, DRC, Zambia, Angola and Mozambique.

According to several freight forwarders, they resorted to close shop early to avoid continued confrontation with security agencies at the border, who often arrest them or deny them access to the border after 6PM.

“In the previous lockdowns, we didn’t encounter any problem because the border was operating for 24 hours. Now our workers are having challenges due to tight security controls on the ground. This is now affecting the movement of cargo especially after 6PM,” said a freight forwarder who preferred anonymity.

Shipping and Forwarding Agents Association of Zimbabwe (SFAAZ) chief executive officer, Mr Joseph Musariri said their members were complying with the law by closing within set times.

“We have had engagements with authorities over the challenges our members are having at the ports of entries, but there is no meaningful change and hence the agents are now closing their offices early.

“This is unfortunate, but the clearing agents are correct in knocking off early as per the law. People are worried of being arrested while doing their job to facilitate regional and international trade. They no longer trust verbal assurances,” said Musariri.

Although he was not available for comment yesterday, national police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said recently that customs agents should engage their parent ministry to get clarity on their status.

“We are appealing to South Africa and Zimbabwe to harmonise the curfew times at the border to avoid these delays.

“We are spending longer than necessary to get passage after 6PM. This is not good considering that we should minimise crowding at all costs,” said a truck driver identified as Mr Moyo.