Report: Visit to Beitbridge, dated 23 January 2002:
The Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, having visited Beitbridge, reports as follows:
A. Introduction
Following widespread media reports that there was abnormal traffic congestion to the extent that a six km queue had been formed at the Beitbridge Border Post in Messina in the days shortly preceding Christmas Day, I (Aubrey Mokoena) telephoned the new Chief Whip on 22 December 2001, the Hon Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, to grant permission for me and any available member of the Committee to conduct an emergency oversight visit to that Border Post. Such permission was telephonically duly granted immediately.
B. Operations
In summary, I contacted the Hon Chief Walter Morwamoche, who lives in the Northern Province, and asked him to join me. He agreed. I drove in my car to pick him up at Jane Furse on Sunday 23 December 2001, at 17:00.
I had earlier communicated with the Director-General, Mr Billy Masetlha, to make him aware that we were on our way.
On our way, we encountered numerous roadblocks instituted by the SANDF. Our passage was facilitated by prior communication with the Northern Province Regional Director, Mr M V Mabunda, who had received instructions from the Director-General. We arrived at Beitbridge at 23:00 and performed the oversight function until 04:00 in the morning.
The following morning at 08:00 we started with further interviews on the South African side, after which we proceeded to the Zimbabwean side. We completed our work at 15:00 on 24 December and drove back home.
We interviewed officials from the Immigration Service, SARS, SAPS and SANDF to find out from them why the service at the bridge was characterised by such lethargy. We also interviewed pedestrians, travellers, motorists and commercial truck drivers.
C. Evidence
The evidence is crystallised as follows:
1. The co-ordinating committee at Beitbridge, consisting of the Immigration Service, SARS, SAPS and the SANDF, is not functioning well.
2. No-one is directly responsible for the overall control of Beitbridge. This causes the management of the bridge to be poor.
3. Each of the four units mentioned under paragraph 1 operates as an entity with its own freedom.
4. There is an overlap of roles, i.e. the Police try to do immigration work. This causes overlapping and delays.
5. The computers at Beitbridge are not linked to the Home Affairs mainframe at the Pretoria Head Office. Information can thus not be verified speedily.
6. There was a shortage of staff to deal with the expected festive season travellers.
7. Although the border post was open 24 hours a day, serious problems arose due to the fact that the Beitbridge Border Clearing Agency did not function 24 hours a day. This agency is responsible for clearing commercial trucks. The trucks thus blocked the road while waiting for the clearing agency to open.
D. Recommendations
1. There should be separate mandatory parking facilities for commercial trucks, as they cause further congestion. It takes more time to clear a commercial truck to cross the bridge than, for instance, a family who is going on holiday. When trucks are being cleared to cross the bridge, they contribute to the traffic congestion, as they do not make use of the parking facilities demarcated for them. The clearing agency should also operate 24 hours a day when the bridge is open 24 hours a day during the festive season. This will go a long way towards keeping the flow of commercial trucks going.
2. Traffic officers must be involved in traffic flow management, instead of this role being left to the police. Traffic officers should also have been present to sensitise motorists to the "Arrive Alive Campaign".
3. After an earlier visit of our Committee to Beitbridge, SARS implemented an audit at the bridge. During this time a whole team was sent to investigate the operations at the bridge. Our Committee visited the bridge during this "blitz audit", and operations at the bridge ran much smoother than during our previous visit. This type of audit should be sustained on a permanent basis and should not be done as an ad hoc exercise.
4. The structural layout of the bridge should also be improved to facilitate better traffic management, even to the extent of separating commercial and holiday travellers.
5. The overall management of the bridge should be improved. Someone will have to take control over all the units (Immigration, SARS, SAPS, SANDF) that function at the bridge. It is very important that a Ministry becomes the definitive authority to take overall authority of all these units at border posts. There should be a Cabinet decision on this issue, as it is a policy decision that will affect all border posts. During our oversight visits last year to various border posts, we saw that serious problems are being created due to the fact that there is no definitive authority to take overall responsibility. The current situation at border posts can be compared to a school with many teachers but no principal. Such a situation is a recipe for disaster.