Border officials were this week on top of the situation as thousands of holiday-makers and shoppers thronged the Beitbridge border post, with many Zimbabweans returning home for the festive season.
BY OUR CORRESPONDENT
Both South Africa and Zimbabwe deployed large numbers of border officials, comfortably weathering pressure from seas of travellers in both directions.
The go-slow by South African immigration officers last week had ended and business reverted to normal, a source said.
“We did not wait for long on the South African side, just that they have created steel barricades that make you feel like a caged animal,” Josephine Mambo of Gweru said.
South African officials erected a caged walkway to help them control crowds.
Besides immigration, customs and other border officials on both sides of the border strategically created numerous points where officers briskly handled travellers.
On the Zimbabwean side, the green route for people with nothing to declare had been activated.
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“We were at the border post for far less than an hour; it was not the nightmare we anticipated,” Jacobus Kroner from Mpumalanga in South Africa said.
Tourism aides deployed on the entry side to assist visitors were doing good work, he said although signage could improve the service.
Another Zimbabwean working in SA, Anderson Kwete, who was travelling home to Chinhoyi, said apart from marauding touts, his passage through the border was smooth.
“We had problems with touts demanding a fee for the completion of vehicle temporary import permits,” he said.
Scores of pickpockets, touts, off-duty policemen and officers from other security departments have descended onto the border post to cash in on desperate travellers.
They demand varying amounts from travellers for assisting in the filling in of relevant forms, most of which one can easily do.
The pickpockets and touts sneak into the border past security guards area, with some officials saying the vigils had overstayed their welcome.
“These guards are ineffective and have become a liability, having been here for two years,” a senior customs officer who asked for anonymity said.
Some of the guards were accused of abusing their office to victimise unsuspecting travellers.
“We had a case this week where a guard physically fought with a truck driver who asked him to open the way,” the customs officer said.
He said a number of guards openly demanding bribes to turn a blind eye to vendors inside the border post.
