The situation at the Beitbridge Border Post between South Africa and Zimbabwe was calmer on Monday morning after the Border Management Authority (BMA) processed thousands of travellers who congested the border over the weekend.
Several buses arrived at the busy port of entry on Monday, with long queues beginning to form. However, BMA Commissioner Dr Michael Masiapato said operations were running smoothly and travellers were expected to be processed swiftly into South Africa.
The Beitbridge border post serves thousands of Zimbabwean and Malawian nationals who reside in South Africa. Large volumes of travellers were recorded in late December as migrant communities left South Africa to spend the festive season in their home countries.
Earlier, the BMA warned travellers against bringing prohibited items, such as agricultural products and unauthorised medicines, into South Africa. The BMA stated that fruits, including mangoes and watermelons, as well as skin-lightening creams, were being confiscated and destroyed at border posts to protect biosecurity and public health.
Providing an update on border operations, Masiapato said the authority processed about 100 buses entering South Africa on Sunday, which he described as the peak travel day so far.
“Comparatively, today things are a bit better. Yesterday it was very hectic, you saw how tough it was. We did over 100 buses yesterday all in all, in terms of aggregation.
“We still had around 22,000 people from the previous night. We were able to clear all those who were here throughout the night. The people you see now are those who arrived this morning, probably around 3 am or 4 am, and we are already starting to clear them,” Masiapato told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika.
He said the authority expected volumes to stabilise during the week before rising again towards the weekend.
“On that basis, we are expecting the week to stabilise until we pick up again as we move towards the weekend,” Masiapato said.
He added that about 100 people attempting to enter South Africa illegally were intercepted, including touts who were illegally assisting travellers with border crossings.
Following Sunday’s surge, Masiapato said traveller numbers were expected to decline during the week but increase again from Thursday.
“We consider yesterday to have been the highest peak in terms of the volumes we had to deal with. Now we are expecting the numbers to start slowing down,” he said.
“We expect that from Thursday until Sunday we will experience a second peak, with the biggest volumes anticipated this coming Sunday, followed by another peak the following Sunday.”
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