Truck bodies plead with Home Affairs to resolve Covid-19 border delays

While delays at South Africa’s land ports of entry are attributed to Covid-19 testing, it has also resulted in a large number of trucks creating massive congestion in the area.

Federation of East and Southern African Road Transport Associations (Fesarta) chief executive officer Mike Fitzmaurice said in a statement: “We support the requirement for the testing to be done but border personnel are overwhelmed and cannot cope with the situation.

“What is more concerning is that they have also stated that the additional manpower promised by the minister of home affairs has not materialised.”

According to Fesarta and the South African Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF) spokesperson Catherine Lark, with truck queues now stretching more than 25km and temperatures often exceeding 32°C, lives and livelihoods are at stake.

Fesarta and SAAFF have called on government to work closer with them when implementing Covid-19 protocols, in order to ease the distressing effect on travellers, businesses and the economy at large.

ALSO READ: SA border posts under huge strain, Motsoaledi warns of ‘humanitarian crisis’

“The situation here is bad – very, very bad,” said one of the thousands of truck drivers stranded at the Lebombo border in Komatipoort, Mpumalanga.”

According to Bensco Logistics managing director, Bernard Lunga, the situation was disastrous for their business and for many others. For their business to operate sustainably, each truck needed to make a delivery within 36 hours and if they exceeded this time, the trips were not profitable.

“Our productivity has plummeted by 75% since the queues started. Under normal circumstances each of our trucks moves four loads in six days. Currently, they have only moved one load in five days,” said Lunga.

Chairperson of SAAFF, Juanita Maree, explained that the only way to remove the congestion was for the movement of trucks to be separated from other traffic such as passenger cars, buses and pedestrians.

“This will enable the free flow of vehicles and passengers. 90% of the trucks coming back into South Africa from Mozambique have no loads: they should be able to enter and exit the border post seamlessly.

“Fesarta and SAAFF reiterate their recent request for a public-private partnership (PPP) to be formed between government, their agencies and the private sector. This will enable us to prevent similar disasters from reoccurring,” said Maree.

ALSO READ: Holders of fake Covid-19 certificates are turned away at SA’s borders, says Home Affairs

Compiled by Reitumetse Makwea

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.