Beitbridge border chaos continues
April 12th, 2010
Shame on customs and immigration officials at the Beitbridge border post!!
When are they going to eliminate the Touts from the border area and put and end to the horrendous behavior and chaos which results from their unlawful presence?
When are the ZIMRA officials going to realize that tourists are a valuable part of Zimbabwe’s extremely strained economy?
Recently a group of seven young professional men and women from Johannesburg and Cape Town bravely decided on a visit to Zimbabwe via Beitbridge Border post.
They got through the SA side in no time at all but it took them three and a half hours to negotiate the border on the Zim side. They are are still shaking their heads in amazement at the confusion and corruption they witnessed.
The touts are totally out of control: ordinary honest folk who refuse to “pay” for the border services are completely swamped and sidelined and it was only after these young people formed a “human barricade” and enlisted the support of other uncorrupt people in the lines, did they manage to make any headway with the sloppy and haphazard road tax, TIP and customs systems.
The officials at the border made no attempt to stop the touts from pushing straight to the front of the queues, with fists full of passports for desperate travelers who had paid for their ‘assistance’. Indeed it was apparent that the officials were in cahoots with the touts as no one could help but notice what was happening.
Two and a half hours of this horrifying entry to our country and they were then stopped by a further “official” directly before the gate leaving the border post.
This so called official was wearing a pair of denim jeans and a pink shirt with no official identifying mark at all. Her name was Blessed and she added another hour to the border chaos with her totally unnecessary behavior.
The tourist party were told to unload their entire trailer which contained only personal effects, and a small amount of food and drink for their fishing trip to Lake Kariba.
Every case was opened, every box, every handbag! Blessed searched the glove compartment, and even under the seats. Her attitude was both threatening and abusive and she made insinuations against virtually everything the tourists were carrying, finally settling upon a small camera and a pair of binoculars as her main target.
Now the ZIMRA customs declaration clearly states that an allowance is granted for personal effects, cameras, cell phones, binoculars and laptops etc but Blessed insisted that the owner of this camera and binos accompany her back to the ZIMRA post for further questioning!!
What on earth was she searching for? Why should tourists be subjected to this sort of behavior?
This group of professionals will certainly not have kind things to say to their large circle of influential friends once they are back home and yet again irreparable damage has been done to Zimbabwe’s reputation.
Would someone please send a copy of this to anyone senior in ZIMRA or the relevant ministries. Its time our disgusting border posts were sorted out for once and for all.
April 13th, 2010 16:11
You don’t get it, do you. The touts are the front men for a corrupt authority – everyone gets a nice cut, thank you very much. Indeed, why do it by the book if you can swindle some unlawful loot from every lawful transaction?
The fact that the golden goose is really tourism, and not bribery, is far too far advanced for the likes of Zimbabwean officials.
Or – is it?
April 29th, 2010 01:27
Zimra to me sounds as disgusting as ZANU.
Just drive on the roads and see what happens. From a personal experience, I was charged $10.00 US for having a faulty reflector on my car, said not to be shiny enough, by a female policeman at a Zimra toll gate.
On the next one I was accosted by a policeman who claimed that my radio licence was not valid and asked me to pay $80 US on the spot i did not have it but I gave him 20 rands which he accepted with glee along with a ZBC officer who must have been defacating in a nearby bush. They were laughing and certainly making a killing out of desperate folk trying to get to their homes.
This is a sad state of affairs and a typical indicator of the rot that has gripped the nation.
Remember when a fish rots it’s the head that starts, followed by the rest of the body.
I rest my case.