The Lebombo port of entry, disrupted severely by Mozambique’s post-election violence, was operating smoothly, with no significant incidents or challenges recorded, Border Management Authority (BMA) commissioner Michael Masiapato reported on Monday.
The port of entry was closed temporarily last week after disruptive demonstrations affected freight trucks severely, holding up scores of them for several days in long queues as they waited for operations to resume.
This was a continuation of the violence that wracked Mozambique immediately after the October 6 election, which resulted in the Lebombo port of entry closing down.
Finance minister Enoch Godongwana gave an indication of the effect of the disruption on cross-border trade in a written reply earlier this month to a parliamentary question by Rise Mzansi leader Songezo Zibi.
The minister said the effect on the SA economy of the disruption had not yet been fully computed, but cross-border declaration and trade data for the period October 9 (election day) to December 6 this year, recorded at the Lebombo/Ressano Garcia border, showed 20% (32,153) fewer export declarations than in the previous matching period.
This represented a R4.8bn negative variance in customs value and a slight increase in import declarations of 13.1% (676 declarations) but with a negative R566m variance in customs value.
“The decrease in exports from SA relate mostly to ferro alloys, coal, chromium ore, iron ore and phosphates, and for imports into SA predominantly to petroleum products and aluminium wire,” said Godongwana.
Masiapato said in a statement that the processing of cargo on arrival and departure continued as normal. Traveller movements in both directions were also flowing without disruptions.
“Backlog of trucks that were on the N4 have been cleared, together with traffic on the corridor towards the Port of Entry. This weekend from Friday to Sunday 52 252 travellers were processed at Lebombo port of entry — a clear indication of the increased activity as SA enters its peak travel period.
“We are working with other law-enforcement authorities and stakeholders such as Sars to ensure that both trade and travel through Lebombo are handled with maximum efficiency and minimal delays during this high-demand period,” he said.
With TimesLIVE
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