Cross-border bus owners want clarity on ‘exorbitant’ fees

Cross-border bus owners have asked Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula to intervene in what they see as unfair and exorbitant spot fines, handed out by traffic officers for luggage and other fees en route to the Beitbridge border.

The bus operators, who fall under the African Unite Borders Bus Trucks Association (Aubbta), claim they have had to pay up to R10 000 each to law enforcement officials for a return trip to Zimbabwe, Malawi and other countries within the Southern African Development Community.

Sometimes they had to pay additional amounts for late or early fees.

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Aubbta chair Phumudzo Mukhwathi said bus operators had to pay spot fines of R2 500 at the first toll gate, the Murrayhill Toll Plaza off-ramp outside Tshwane, to the Cross Border Road Transport Authority (C-BRTA).

Then, at Beitbridge, they were charged R1 500 to R2 500.

“This is too much for emerging small businesses,” he said.

Mukhwathi said the officers waited along the N1 highway to pull them over to check their luggage and, without weighing the load, issued a spot fine.

The operators still had to pay toll fees, those paid at the border and still had to fork out more money on the Zimbabwean side of the border.

Mbalula’s spokesperson Lawrence Venkile said since the matter involved both the C-BRTA and Road Traffic Management Corporation the minister would interact with them before responding.