Truck drivers have spent up to 10 days at the Beitbridge border post due to a “culmination of various events” as company Zimborders - awarded a contract to upgrade the border post - began collecting toll fees.
DA MP and party spokesperson on home affairs Angel Khanyile on Monday urged Motsoaledi “to engage with his Zimbabwean counterpart as a matter of urgency”.
“The renovations at SA’s border with Zimbabwe have caused queues ... Truck drivers are stranded without water or ablution and sanitation facilities. This poses a risk to their health with both countries still in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.”“Not only was the supply chain severely compromised when trucks were forced to endure days-long queues at Beitbridge in the past, but one driver died in 2020 in similar circumstances. This cannot happen again.
“Khanyile is just [using this as a] political gimmick, as politicians always do. This is election time, after all,” said Motsoaledi. He said Zimbabwe’s decision to “charge people $200 [R2,888] and demanding the money in cash” had complicated matters. “And when you are doing renovations you make no space for parking, when you know that Beitbridge is not only a passage to Zimbabwe, it’s a passage to the whole continent,” said Motsoaledi.
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