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Freeman Razemba in South Africa

Zimbabwe and South African have launched a joint operation to curb road traffic accidents and the movement of dangerous goods between the two countries.

This comes after Government officials from the two countries met yesterday in the neighbouring country to come up with solutions to curtail the effects of road traffic accidents and the movement of dangerous goods.

There has been an increase in fatal road accidents involving cross-border buses and haulage trucks in South Africa, prompting officials from the neighbouring country to meet with their Zimbabwean counterparts.

SA’s Cross-Border Road Transport Agency (C-BRTA) requested to meet with officials from the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development.

C-BRTA executive manager responsible for law enforcement Dr Linda Mbana said they had embarked on the execution of their 2024 October Transport Month, “Cross Alive” Campaign and Joint Law Enforcement Operation.

The campaigns and operations are being conducted in collaboration with various stakeholders both locally and regionally to curtail the scourge and effects of road accidents and movement of dangerous goods.

In an interview yesterday, Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe managing director Mr Munesu Munodawafa said as the festive season draws closer, big numbers of people will be travelling between the two countries, especially through Beitbridge Border Post.

“Now, the launch today coincides with the month, the stay alive month that South Africa has been celebrating. So we decided to use this to check our systems, re-evaluate our systems and enhance the state of preparedness in terms of road safety response. In the unlikely event that there is an accident on the way, the two governments, the two sides have to respond to it.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s this side, the South African side or the Zimbabwean side, but we need to respond and save lives. That’s why we carried out this joint campaign. But in addition to a state of preparedness in the event of an accident, we also have a joint enforcement that is taking place. So for the next week plus, we will have teams from VID (Vehicle Inspection Department) Zimbabwe and RMT (Road Motor Transportation) working with their counterparts here, together with the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe, working with their South African counterparts to come up with, let’s say, a dry run of what is likely to be happening around the festive season,” he said.

“It’s a rehearsal, but at the same time it’s practical and it’s meant to improve the efficiency in terms of movement of people, in terms of road safety, but also in terms of response in the unlikely event that there is an accident.”

Mr Munodawafa said Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona will within the next two weeks launch Zimbabwe’s own festive season road safety campaign.

“And I am aware from a planning point of view, we will have more than 40 teams that will be on the ground.

“That is, teams will be comprised of ourselves as Traffic Safety Council, but working with the enforcement agencies, that is ZRP (Zimbabwe Republic Police), VID and RMT. So while we will be dealing with the education side of things, there will be actual enforcement this time around on the roads.

“And we will be checking for the vehicle itself, the road fitness. We will be checking on all the paperwork related to the driver, especially the public service vehicles. And I want to appeal in advance for bus operators particularly, to get them checked, serviced and ready and have all the papers, because there will be a massive blitz,” he said.

South Africa’s Deputy Transport Minister Mkhuleko Hlengwa also said Pretoria has always been insisting on the legal movement of people, goods and services.

“It’s about enforcement and the current prevailing reality is that we are neighbours and we expect you to exert your laws and your processes as you are empowered to do so. It goes beyond just the movement of people, but it’s substantively what is it that the people are carrying, what is it that they are moving. And together we must fight tax evasion, we must fight the illicit flow of goods, we must deal with the illegal tobacco trade because our outlook jointly is to ensure that there is economic growth and development.

“And so when we highlight and enforce the rules, our expectation is a reciprocal kind of action to ensure that together we weed out the corrupt elements that rob us taxes, taxes which we need for service delivery and the collective improvement of the people. So I think we must ensure that there is public education to disabuse the very shallow and simplistic narrative that may be out there. Our expectation is the same in Namibia, Lesotho, the Kingdom of Eswatini, Mozambique and Botswana.

“And of course, we rely on you as we go further up in the region to ensure that we synchronise the synergy insofar as movement is concerned,” he said.