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NewsDay

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Truckers protest over Zimra border delays

Transport
CHIRUNDU — There was near pandemonium on Tuesday when angry truck drivers besieged Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) offices at Chirundu Border Post to protest over delays in clearing goods in transit, amid calls for the tax collector to increase working hours to avoid congestion.

CHIRUNDU — There was near pandemonium on Tuesday when angry truck drivers besieged Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) offices at Chirundu Border Post to protest over delays in clearing goods in transit, amid calls for the tax collector to increase working hours to avoid congestion.

Report by Own Correspondent

When NewsDay crew arrived at the border post at around 3pm on Tuesday, there was a long queue of trucks stretching for over 10km.

Some of the truck drivers said they had spent four days awaiting their turn to be cleared by border authorities who seemed unperturbed by threats of violence by the impatient truckers.

Police were called in to restore sanity at the border while truckers’ representatives held a heated meeting with Zimra officials who gave in and promised to expedite the processing of goods, sources said.

A Zambian trucker Leonard Kabunda of Rainbow Trucking said: “Its hell here, Zimra officials are delaying the processing of our goods and as a result some drivers are spending at least three or four days to get past the border. As I speak right now, I have spent four days here and it has become a norm. This is supposed to be a one-stop border post to make life easy for cross-border truckers and other immigrants; however, this is not the case.”

In separate interviews, drivers said Chirundu border should be opened 24 hours a day like the Beitbridge border to ease congestion.

Currently, the border is open at 6am and closes at 6pm.

Principal Immigration Officer Osmond Sademera said his department, which was responsible for checking passports, was not responsible for the delays as the visitors’ halls were evidently empty.

Zimra Chirundu acting station manager Anderson Sibanda refused to shed light on the matter and referred all questions to Harare’s Zimra corporate communications manager Canisio Mudzimu who was unavailable for comment yesterday.