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Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
The movement of people has remained normal at Beitbridge Border post despite numerous reports on social media that traffic had surged in light of the xenophobia motivated attacks on foreign nationals by South Africans.

In previous years Beitbridge which is the busiest inland port of entry would be a hive of activity with citizens from countries north of the Limpopo River fleeing attacks from South Africans. Assistant Regional Immigration Officer (ARIO) in charge of Beitbridge (Zimbabwe) Mr Nqobile Ncube said they were yet to record any anomalies in traffic movement through the border.

“We are processing an average of 15 000 travellers daily inclusive of both entries and exit,” he said. “These are normal figures considering that it’s a month end which also coincides with school opening time.

In the last six days we cleared 49 658 entries and 48869 exits (between 29 August and 3 September). The trend is expected and not abnormal as it stands”.

The chairperson of the Beitbridge Commercial Truckers Association Mr Osbert Shumba said the movement of cargo remained normal.

“Trucks are moving according to schedule and we have not heard of any incident where anyone was blocked or stopped from entering South Africa or Zimbabwe via Beitbridge border post,” he said.