With the festive season now upon us, and Christmas and New Year’s a few days away, traffic at the Lebombo Border to Mozambique is expected to peak higher than in previous years due to an excessive number of trucks on the roads.
While the line of vehicles in and out of Mozambique seemed to be flowing smoothly at the time of going to press, there have been reports of major congestion, leaving motorists in queues of up to four hours and longer.
According to TRAC’s Solange Soares, the traffic so far has been on par with last year, however, she said TRAC is expecting a major surge in traffic this coming weekend. “Truck traffic has been heavier than in past years, but the increase is not related to the festive season alone,” she said.
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“Rather it is a phenomenon that the route has been experiencing for several months now due to external factors not related to the TRAC N4 Route.”
Soares said the backlogs at the Lebombo Border in particular seemed to be due to the increase in trucks and additional light vehicle traffic given the festive season, but that TRAC could not comment further on anything else pertaining to the backlog.
Meanwhile, the provincial Department for Community Safety, Security and Liaison’s spokesperson, Moeti Mmusi, said traffic officials, border officials, police and other law enforcement agencies were busy with the process called Area Kilometre Seven, which spans around 7km from the border.
He said the collaboration started on Monday, and officials started clearing the trucks and other public transport vehicles at Kilometre Seven.
“Once the vehicles have been cleared and processed there, and a certain number is reached, they are then escorted across the border. This is expected to ease congestion at the border and also assists in easing traffic flow,” said Mmusi.
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“However, trucks and public transport operators are encouraged to be more patient and avoid breaking the rules. They are also advised to ensure that they are in possession of all the required documents to avoid more delays.”
Mmusi told Lowvelder on Saturday that some truck drivers had been violating the road rules in order to try and avoid the long queues leading up to the border post, including driving into oncoming traffic.
Mmusi said some traffic officers had been deployed at various points along the N4 leading up to the border to ensure the road was not blocked, and has called on both truck drivers and owners to respect the rules of the road and their fellow motorists.
“We are experiencing quite a bit of lawlessness on the road, and while we understand that truck drivers have certain deadlines to meet, they cannot do so at the cost of endangering the lives of others by not obeying the laws,” said Mmusi.
A Vereeniging resident, Bernice Els, who had travelled through Komatipoort to get to Mozambique on Sunday, posted on the DriveMoz Facebook group that she had been sent through the border without a vehicle pass and without paying the MT750 fee.
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“After a four-hour queue and getting our gate pass stamped, passports, etc, no one could assist us in guiding us to the right place to pay and get the vehicle pass. They just issued us with a fully stamped gate pass.”
She said in her post that the borders used to be separated, but on Sunday they had rerouted her to a new building where both the South African and Mozambican passports were stamped.
“We have been to Moz five years in a row and know exactly what the process is.
“There were lines of almost 400 people trying to get their Mozambican and SA stamp in one place. They then send you for a gate pass, and that was the only thing we had issued to us after we asked numerous times for the vehicle pass, as the border crossing was completely changed, but to no avail. We didn’t enter through the same road even.
“They redirected us to a parking bay and a new building and told us we would not pass the Mozambican border post as usual and that both countries’ admin and documents are now done at one place. It has been combined. Biggest mess ever,” she said.
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“It’s absolutely chaos at the new building.”
Els said she asked five different officials where to go for the temporary import permit, and one person eventually indicated she should stop at the Mozambican border crossing after she left the facility.
“But the road they direct you to leads you straight into town (Mozambique), we never passed the Mozambican gate as usual. I immediately pulled over in town and asked some police officials for help.
“They indicated we were one of many, and that they have pulled over almost 30 visitors yesterday [December 18] without the permit.”
Attempts to get in contact with the Lebombo Border management were unsuccessful by the time of going to press.
Meanwhile, Mpumalanga’s MEC for community safety, security and liaison, Vusi Shongwe, has once more urged motorists who will be travelling during this festive season to use the road cautiously.
In a statement, Shongwe said he had been briefed that so far law enforcement officers had stopped and checked over 72 000 vehicles in various operations, which include block patrols, speed operations and weighbridges.
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He said about 22 000 of the stopped vehicles went through various weighbridges across the province. Over 14 000 summonses were issued to motorists for various offences ranging from reckless driving and faulty vehicle mechanisms to other moving traffic violations.
About 227 vehicles were discontinued for defects. He said the officers impounded over 400 vehicles. Most of these vehicles were released once the owners and drivers fully complied by reducing their loads. Twelve motorists were also arrested for drinking and driving.
Shongwe said some of the busiest routes include the N3, which connects Mpumalanga, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, the N2 between Ermelo and Mkhondo, and the N4 toll road from Gauteng leading to Mozambique and eSwatini. These routes carried about 2 000 vehicles per hour over the weekend.
“Other routes such as the N11, N17 R40, R573 and R38 are also some of the busiest roads reported so far. The traffic volumes are expected to surge this coming weekend as most people will be travelling to various destinations for the Christmas long weekend.”
Shongwe also noted some challenges reported at the Lebombo Border Gate, which include crimes committed on truck drivers queueing towards the gate. This includes allegations of kidnapping and robbery.
He encouraged law enforcers to continue working hard in order to rein in on errant driver behaviour and bring to book those not obeying the rules. He has also called on truck and other drivers travelling through the Lebombo Border Gate and other ports of entry in the province to be patient with delays and also to co-operate fully with officials processing them.
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