The ManicaPost
THE chaos obtaining at the Forbes Border Post must be contained immediately.
It is no secret that the country is losing millions of dollars through delays at the point of entry that has resulted in long winding queues of haulage trucks and other commercial vehicles ferrying various consignments in and out of the country.
Some truckers have spent more than a week at the border to have their cargo cleared, a development which is against the open-for-business concept that is being championed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
What is more worrying is that in the face of this ensuing chaos, its business as usual. No one seems to care.
Zimra officials are heaping the blame on clearing agents whom they accuse of failing to pre-clear trucks before they arrive at the border. On the other hand, the clearing agents have taken aim at the tax collector saying the clearing system was cumbersome.
Their argument is that the whole process is not user friendly and thus it is the root cause of the delays haunting the border.
In the long term, they argued, the long queues — mostly by fuel truckers — will be dealt with if the border becomes a 24hr post.
Authorities must therefore move with speed and develop the border post into an all-day operating unit.
For the past decade, the Forbes Border Post has become a point of exit/entry of choice for many and this has resulted in high traffic inflows.
The increased business at the border has not been met with a commensurate upgrading of the facilities at the border to deal with the increased inflows.
This has resulted in congestion.
On Monday, the chaos at the border caught the attention of the Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs, Dr Ellen Gwaradzimba, who made a surprise visit to the post to have first hand information of what was taking place.
The visit was important for it was meant to align operations and ensure that goods and people move quickly ahead of the festive season.
Dr Gwaradzimba was not happy with what she witnessed at the border and without mincing her words she ordered the clearing agents and the Zimra officials to put their act together and quickly come up with remedies to clear the backlog.
Instead of blaming each other on the ensuing congestion, Dr Gwaradzimba urged the officials to urgently sit down, identify grey areas and put their heads together to rectify the same.
The obtaining situation is best solved if Zimra and the clearing agents work extra hours to clear all the trucks.
Without opening its system to manipulation, it is important that Zimra makes the clearing process shorter and user friendly.
The ease of doing business must be implemented at the border.
The clearing process must not present itself as a monster. Presently, the country badly needs money and the Forbes Border Post must be run smoothly and help grow the national pursue.
If nothing is done to rectify the situation at the border, returns from taxes collected will come in drips because vehicular movement is slow and hindered.
Dr Gwaradzimba must make regular visits to the border to see whether the order she gave has been implemented. Some officials at the border have grown thick skin.
They are not moved by utterances and it is best that those found throwing spanners in the works must be removed.
Most importantly, the chaotic situation at the border is a good breeding ground for corruption and smuggling. In that confusion, rogue Zimra officials fraudulently clear trucks.
In recent weeks a good number of such cases have been detected and arrests were made.
If the obtaining situation continues, crooks will find it easy to smuggle contraband.
