Haulage truck drivers from Zambia and the Democratic
Republic of Congo recently threatened to disrupt business at Forbes Border Post
as they protested against inefficiencies by ZIMRA which saw them spending up to
four days at the point of entry.
The truckers raised concerns that Zimra did not have enough
electronic seals for all the trucks that cross the border on a daily basis and
hence they were now being made to pay US$10 per day they spent parked at TOWAZ
waiting for sealing.
Victor Kabwe, a driver from DRC said empty trucks and
loaded trucks had to follow the same queue for them to be cleared, a move which
was causing delays since it took longer to clear loaded goods.
“When we are loaded coming to Zimbabwe, we go to Towaz,
where they seal the trucks. There are too many trucks because the seals are few
and we spend more than three days there waiting for seals,” he said.
Another trucker, Jeffery Mukarakate, said the delays were
causing artificial shortages of fuel in Zambia.
“We need to come up with solutions. If they are having
trouble with the seals they should just put a waiver on it because the fuel we
are carrying is for the Ministry of Energy in Zambia, so we are now causing
artificial shortages in Zambia by our delays here. There are about 300 trucks
and each truck carries an average of 40 000 litres. So we are talking of about
700 000 litres that is being delayed. Zambia needs the fuel to move their mines
but now it’s taking long,” he said
Provincial administrator Mr Edgars Seenza said he held a
meeting with the drivers and customs officials and most of the issues raised
had since been addressed.
“The truckers raised genuine concerns which we felt needed
to be addressed urgently. We had a meeting with customs officials and the
drivers. We had to make sure that we assist these drivers from our sister
countries and facilitate for their smooth passage through Zimbabwe,” he said.
Mr Seenza said Zimra brought in 200 seals on Sunday and
another 500 seals had been delivered by yesterday and the majority of trucks
had since left the country.
He said Zimra and the security company manning the gates
had also agreed to have two separate queues for loaded and empty trucks to
ensure that everyone is served on time. Manica Post
0 comments:
Post a Comment