Home Affairs moves to ease wait at the border: Here’s what you need to know

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber has officially introduced a new bill to help alleviate the hours-long delays at South African borders.

Research by the South African Institute of International Affairs in 2008 found that border delays in Southern Africa can stretch to 36 hours and cost the region hundreds of millions every year in lost revenue.

While these waiting times have reduced in recent years, a recent report by Business Unity South Africa found the average wait time at borders to still be over 13 hours.

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One-Stop Solution

The One-Stop Border Post Bill has been drawn up for several months and was recently put before the National Assembly for consideration.

The Bill will put an end to checks by both the departing and arrival country at most borders, allowing those passing to only be processed once in a “common control zone”.

The minister said this will help ease high volumes of traffic at the border that has become “a major obstacle” to national and regional economic development.

“This is a move away from a traditional two-stop border post concept in which exit procedures are carried out on one side of the border and entry procedures are carried out on the other side for persons, vehicles and goods.

“Except for the Lebombo port of entry [bordering Mozambique], all the land ports of entry in South Africa are based on a two-stop border post model,” the bill explains.

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Will there be more officials at the border, and who will carry the cost?

No additional officials will be sent to the border and the costs of implementing the common control zone will be funded through public-private partnerships.

“Most of the financial implications have already been taken into account within the baseline allocations relating to operations at ports of entry.

“However, the funding model that will be used to fund the redevelopment of the six identified commercial ports of entry to one-stop border posts is a public-private partnership.

“The proposed funding model for the public-private partnership project will be a 20-year concession entered into with multiple successful private parties to redevelop and maintain key facilities and infrastructure at the identified land ports of entry.”

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Has this been tried anywhere else in Southern Africa?

The one-stop border is currently being trialled at the Mamuno border between Namibia and Botswana.

Executive Director of the Trans Kalahari Corridor Secretariat, Leslie Mlungisi Mpofu, told Namibia’s Windhoek Observer that some initial teething issues had been overcome.

“We already experienced a few challenges, but everything is going well,” Mpofu said earlier this month.

The Chirundu border One-Stop Border Post between Zambia and Zimbabwe was established over a decade ago with much success, and has been a case study for the World Trade Organisation.

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