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Herald Reporters
Zimbabweans based in South Africa heading home for the festive season face long hours at the Beitbridge border post as they will go through a meticulous screening process for the Ebola disease.

Health and Child Care Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa, said the country could not avoid the screening.

The deadly disease that is transmitted through direct contact with blood and other bodily fluids, has so far killed 7 000 people and more than 18 000 reported cases mainly in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

Already, commuters are spending not less than 12 hours on the South African side of the border before going through the screening for Ebola as they enter Zimbabwe. Dr Parirenyatwa was speaking while responding to a question from Beitbridge senator Cde Thambudzani Mohadi in the Senate on Thursday who sought to know what mechanisms Government had put in place to ensure travellers did not spend long hours at the border in light of the Ebola screening.

“We continue to fight Ebola through preventing it from entering Zimbabwe,” he said. “The main active port of entry is Beitbridge, so zimra (the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority) and our ministries are the front liners where travellers have to first go through port health before proceeding to zimra.

“It’s one of the causes of congestion, but it means we have to continue to screen so that we are not affected. Let’s not sit on our laurels and think it can’t affect us. So, the vigilance must continue because just one case will leave us in trouble.”

Meanwhile, zimra has deployed 40 officers from less busy stations to Beitbridge Border Post where the volume of both human and vehicle traffic has increased significantly as Zimbabweans based in South Africa head home for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Zimra has a staff complement of 273 workers at Beitbridge and they need 400 to operate at full capacity.

An average of 15 000 travellers access the border per day and the number increases to around 20 000 during peak periods.

Further, 2 100 buses, 14 000 to 15 000 trucks and 25 000 private cars pass through the border monthly.

“We believe the movement of traffic will be smooth throughout the holidays, said a Zimra official who requested anonymity. “We expected the volume of traffic to increase this weekend as many companies close shop (for the holidays) in South Africa.”

The assistant regional immigration officer in charge of Beitbridge border post Mr Notius Tarisai said on Tuesday that they had requested 12 relief officers to beef up their staff complement of 52 workers.