Paper presented at the 33rd Annual Southern African Transport Conference 7-10 July 2014 "Leading Transport into the Future", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.
This paper unpacks the cross border road transport challenges experienced at most of
South African border posts with particular focus on Beitbridge border. The paper is based
on research conducted by the Cross-Border Road Transport Agency (C-BRTA) in 2011
focusing on the State of South African border posts and Analysis of Trade Supply Chains.
The historic structural and institutional configuration of South African border posts like
other SADC border posts manifest deficiencies in terms of facilitating smooth cross border
road transport movements. The number of government departments and agencies
operating at South African border posts range from five (5) to twelve (12) and the
departments/ agencies operates in silos. Customs processes constitute the greatest transit
time in undertaking cross border movement in either direction, that is, for both northbound
and southbound traffic at Beitbridge border post. Other transport challenges include
inadequate and poorly maintained infrastructure, misalignment of working hours and lack
of coordination between domestic border agencies and other stakeholders. Understanding
of the origins and magnitude of cross border transport challenges is a fundamental
departure point towards finding ideal interventions to the challenges experienced at
Beitbridge. This paper outlines some of the solutions that may be deployed to address the
cross border transport challenges experienced at South African border posts.
