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.
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