BORDER CONGESTION ALERT

New year's eve 2018, we expect the border to be congested overnight and most likely the rest of the day tomorrow.

This group of travellers is mainly made of South African based motorists who are returning back to their bases at the end of their holidays in Zimbabwe.

The queue is backing up to three kilometres from the border and local police is out in full force manning all intersections with the main road leading to the border to avoid impatient motorists trying to jump the queues.

Buses have a dedicated lane as well into the border.

Zimbabwe Immigration authorities have set up additional passport stamping posts under the departure shed.

We are urging motorists to be patient and not try to jump queues and in the process causing chaos.

Stamping of passports on the South African side is done on per-vehicle-basis, so please remain in your cars and you will be attended to once you get to the passport stamping point (Which is currently the usual departure hall converted to arrivals for holidays purposes). Once you have been attended to please drive out of the border area to make room for other travellers.

Please make sure you get your proper travel documents handy and once stamped make sure that the one you get back is yours.

We wish you guys a happy new year as you will be at the border.

Ciao

OVERSTAYING RISK - USD500 FINE

(File picture)

Zimbabweans resident in South Africa who are holders of the ZEP permits and had come driving their cars to Zimbabwe for holiday risk overstaying as Zimra only issued Temporary Import Permits for cars that were valid up 31 December 2017, the day that the ZEP permits expire.

South Africa issued a statement that allows the holders of these permits who have proof of application for new permits to be allowed back into South Africa without any problems.

http://bit.ly/2BUFIQ7

Zimra refused to give the holders of these permits any extended periods beyond the validity of the permits.

So if you are a holder of ZEP permit and you went to Zimbabwe driving, please check the validity of your permit as you risk overstaying.

Penalty for overstaying (though ridiculous) is USD500. If caught they usually detain your car until you have paid the fine.

There has always been talk of a one week grace period but usually travellers are taken advantage of as that is not a clear policy and is subject to an officer's discretion.

We expect the border to be busy this weekend as motorists will try to beat this deadline as well as parents in Zimbabwe dash across to Musina to make some shopping for back to school supplies.

Remember, the best time to arrive at Beitbridge if you are going to South Africa is mid morning to late afternoon before the buses start arriving.

Happy driving. 

SOUTHBOUND TRAFFIC STILL LOW

                                                                        (File Picture)

When Should I Start Travelling To SA?

Over the past few days we have noted with interest that southbound traffic is quite low during the day except in the evening when buses from all the hinterland arrive at almost the same time.

This has resulted in congestion during the night but the Zimbabwe side has been so efficient in processing passports as they are doing so per entire bus at a time.

Additional processing points have been set up under the departure shed and the system seems to be working so far until come the peak period which we forecast to be the end of the weekend of 7 January 2018 till the weekend of 15 January 2018.

We have seen the Zimbabwe border authorities attending meetings to ensure the smooth flow of traffic going back to South Africa. We believe South African border authorities are also doing the same.

We are urging travellers to start their journeys early so that they get to the border early and be on the lookout for livestock and broken down vehicles on the road.

Guys, drive to arrive alive and please, remember speed kills.

Happy travelling.

Crossing The Border In Five Minutes

End of year traffic for Beitbridge is characterised mainly by two waves, massive chaotic northbound in December and a similar and even more and stressful southbound tsunami come mid January.

This writer has been at Beitbridge for the past decade and it seems no matter how much the authorities prepare it somehow ends up with cries of inefficiency by Zimra (Northbound) and South African Immigration (Southbound) and little has been said about the travelling public and yet they play a very crucial role in efficient service delivery at the border.

The border when it was designed, very few people used to travel between the two countries and then it was mainly the affluent who then could afford going on holiday. The border used to close at 1800hrs as late late 1990's, it was extended to 2000hrs for almost a year in the early 2000's and eventually to 24/7 when it became clear that traffic both human and vehicular had increased.

One thing though remained the same. The design of the border post.

A simple issue like a car breaking down on the southgate going to South Africa will plug  and block all the trucks, buses and cars going to South Africa. To make things worse, there are no emergency and safety preparedness measures put in place, a standby tow truck for example. Last time when the statewarehouse  caught fire it burnt down because the firefighting truck was small and badly equipped. We believe with the new era a lot is going in that direction in order to improve the situation.

We noticed that the border can be congested in less than ten minutes, all that you need are five buses coming in one after the other and twenty private cars and five Malaitsha mini buses and that will take over an hour of full throttle passport stamping. Mix that with a few who do not have proper documentation for the cars a parent or two who do not have affidavits to take children out of or into a country then the chaos begins.

So how do you cross the border quickly?

1. Get to the border early and avoid congestion prone days like end of a weekend or holiday (southbound) or beginning of a weekend or holiday (northbound).

2. Get as much information about the border as possible and have proper documentation ready in one place.

With proper information the border is a walk through and some people do it everytime.

BEITBRIDGE DECEMBER 2017, WHAT REALLY WENT WRONG?

December 2017 will go down as the month that saw some of the worst delays ever experienced by travellers to cross the border from South Africa to Zimbabwe.

A number of factors combined to brew this potent situation that saw travellers spending twelve hours to drive a distance of three kilometres and another six hours waiting for papers to be done.

Three days before Christmas eve the border was quiet and everything seemed to be under control, then like a mighty tsunami, the border was flooded and service provision was stretched to the limit and travellers endured the slow service especially on the Zimbabwe side. Passport stamping would be quick enough, then the confusion with the car papers would start. Often after standing in the queue for sometime one would be told that the car papers needed "confirmation" meaning one would have to go back to where one left the car with an officer to confirm car details, in the meantime the queue would be moving and if unlucky one would have to start all over again.  

Whatever reason will be given, one thing is certain, the border post needs to be restructured both physically and procedurally because if for any reason there is a situation like a fire breaking out then it will surely be a disaster.

We now wait with abated breath on that southbound wave of travellers hitting the border come January 2018. 

HORRIFIC ROAD ACCIDENTS - DRIVERS PLEASE BE CAREFUL

                                                      Fatal accident near Lundi, Zimbabwe.

We have received several reports of road accidents along major routes either side of the Limpopo. In some of the accidents lives have been lost and many have been left injured. Our hearts are with the bereaved families. We wish the injured a speedy recovery.

 《Pretoria》Yesterday: N4 Simon Vermooten interchange. Two died after three cars collided. @_ArriveAlive

Rob Beezy‏ @TrafficSA  3h3 hours ago

Limpopo - #FatalCrash (5 Dead) in a 2 vehicle head-on crash on the Lephalale / Groblersbrug road

BEITBRIDGE GRIDLOCKED, TRAVELLERS STRANDED

                                           (Bumper to bumper about 4km from the border)

Words do not come easy, how do you explain it when it is taking 12 hours to drive from the weigh bridge on the South African side to the Zimbabwe side, a distance of a mere three kilometres at most.

That was the situation at the border on the 23rd of December 2017.

The South African side of the border is managing the situation quite well with queues moving but the situation is worse on the Zimbabwe side as the congestion has backed up bumper to bumper for over eight kilometres into South Africa.

Those familiar with Musina the queue from time to time is stretching up to Petros Garage on the N1 road.

                                                                   Stretching forever

Impatient Kombi drivers have worsened the situation by trying to overtake and jumping the queue resulting in virtual blockage of the Musina to Beitbridge road.

Zimbabwe Immigration are on top of the situation with no queues.

Zimbabwe Revenue Authority is another case, they are virtually not in the game. So many processes to be done and few operatives to do it or no clear indications of what is to be done, when and where.

The result has been congestion where even those whose papers could be ready are stuck because the release of cars is not as fast. Unlike other years when there were officers writing Temporary Import Permits out side, this year they are all in the main Hall and the temporary warehouse only and when we counted them they were not more than twenty.

It looks like for the umpteenth time the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority were not prepared for the Northbound wave of travellers.

                                                       Taking a much deserved nap

In two weeks time, we will be seeing how the southbound wave will be dealt with by the South African Immigration.

Happy travelling.

SUMMARY OF BORDER CHARGES FOR PRIVATE CARS

We have compiled the list of charges to help motorists with the budget of border charges for private cars.

In South African Rand the rate is a bit higher than bank rates and we encourage travellers to pay in United States dollars or the local "currency" of bond notes.

Care should however be exercised in use of local currency as some government departments like Immigration and Vehicle Inspection Department as well as Zimbabwe Republic Police do not accept the local currency for a variety of reasons best explained by themselves.

We encourage travellers to have money in small denomination as change at border posts can be an issue and if you are not careful one ends up being given change in the local "Bollars" bond notes which unfortunately is not a readily convertible currency.

Sadly but true, most government departments do not accept coins as payment though inland one is if lucky is likely to be paid entirely in bond coins.

We believe with time this will eventually change with the new era recently ushered in.

In the meantime Zimra has been experiencing persistent system outages resulting in huge delays to the motoring public.

We at Crossing Beitbridge wish travellers safe driving. Please drive to arrive alive. 

LONG DELAYS AT BEITBRIDGE AS ZIMRA STRUGGLE

(File picture)

The huge number of travellers arriving at Beitbridge Border Post appear to have taken Zimra by surprise as they have very few officers to serve travellers resulting in long queues and in some instances total chaos as travellers jostle to be served as patience runs out.

The high temperatures being experienced at Beitbridge Border Post are making it worse as people are queuing in direct sunlight.

Zimbabwe Immigration is on top of the situation as they have opened additional processing points and there are no queues at all at Immigration.

We understand some travellers have been at the border since morning, what do think is wrong or needs to be done to improve efficiency?