Zimpapers Logo

Herald Reporters

HUMAN traffic at some of the country’s border posts was still flowing as the directive to restrict access to all traffic except cargo and returning residents as directed by the President on Monday night was slowly coming into effect.

Although it was business as usual at Chirundu, Kariba and Beitbridge border posts, officials revealed that they were waiting for directives to effect a shutdown.

Forbes Border Post in Mutare was only allowing access to haulage trucks.

Yesterday travellers were going to either side of the border. Others were travelling to get basic commodities pending the lockdown in South Africa tomorrow.

The assistant regional immigration officer in charge of Beitbridge (Zimbabwe), Mr Nqobile Ncube said traffic has started declining at the port of entry.

“What you have seen on the ground is an accurate picture and is a result of the compliance measures being implemented by our Government and its neighbours,” said Mr Ncube.

“Since last week we have been recording a decline in inbound traffic with many travellers taking heed on the need to minimise the unnecessary travel and additionally the travel ban on those coming from the condition’s hotspots is effective on the ground.”

Visitors into Zimbabwe via Beitbridge Border Post have since dropped to around 5 000 daily.

Officials at Chirundu also indicated that they were waiting for further instructions

“People are coming in and going in as usual with health checks, but traffic has drastically reduced,” said one of the officials.

The official said they were seeing a decline in numbers of travellers, which he attributed to social media reports that the port had been closed.

Officials said they were waiting for communication from head office to close the border.

At Forbes Border Post Border officials were serving five truckers at a given time. This made movement of trucks very slow.