Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
Government has set in motion plans to implement the One-Stop Border Post (OSBP) concept with Zambia and South Africa. A technical team led by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce has already started drafting the legal framework and procedure manual.

Head of the technical team that is in charge of Border Efficiency and Management Systems (BEAMS) Mrs Constance Chizhanje said on Friday that they were already engaging officials from both South Africa and Zambia.

She said the OBSP with Zambia and South Africa will be rolled out at Victoria Falls and Beitbridge, respectively.

“So far, we have had two meetings with our Zambian counterparts with the view of opening a second One-Stop-Border-Post at Victoria Falls, following the success of the initiative at Churundu, which was launched in 2009,” said Mrs Chizhanje.

She said President Mugabe and South African President Jacob Zuma agreed in principle on the need to speed up the OSBP at Beitbridge at the recent Bi-National Commission held in Pretoria, South Africa.

“With Zambia, we have agreed on a bilateral agreement which is awaiting approval by our Cabinet,” she said. “We are very hopeful that a memorandum of understanding will be signed in December this year. In addition, we have developed an efficient procedures manual, which is an improved version of operations at Chirundu and we are hopeful that the idea will be a great success. On the Beitbridge project, so far we have hosted a team from South Africa’s Home Affairs department. We took them through Churundu Border Post and they have appreciated the need to speed up the processes at Beitbridge and for trade facilitation in the North-South corridor.”

South Africa, said Mrs Chizhanje, was now working on legislation to operationalise the OSBP at Beitbridge. South Africa is also reportedly looking at entering into bilateral agreements with several other countries they share borders with, including Mozambique, to roll-out the same initiative.

“We have agreed in principle with South Africa on the idea to create a user-friendly border to increase trade between the two countries and the region,” she said.

“Initially, they were treating the concept from a security perspective, but after our engagements we all agreed this is an initiative to boost trade and free movement of people within the region.”

Mrs Chizhanje said they were looking forward to meeting South Africa’s technical team to agree on the implementation strategies and timelines.

Zimbabwe has moved a step ahead in drafting the legal documents, she said.

“You will note that we mostly look into extraterritorial and hosting arrangements and the harmonisation of operations that include immigration, customs and security systems,” said Mrs Chizhanje.

A 2015 survey conducted by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JAICA) showed a marked increase in delays in clearing freight trucks at Beitbridge, which negatively impacted on businesses.

Under the new arrangement, travellers and cargo will be cleared once for both entry and exit in either country. Currently, such processes are done on both sides of the border.

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