One-stop borders demand buy-in from all stakeholders

Congestion, delays and bureaucratic red
tape are all terms that can aptly describe
Southern Africa’s busiest border posts.
“Inefficient border posts can deter and
hold back regional trade, hinder foreign
investment and create a negative environment
for the regional countries from a business,
passenger as well as tourism point of view,”
says Horne-Ferreira. “Quite simply, the less
time spent on border crossing formalities, the
lower the cost of logistics and eventually the
cost of doing business.”
An earnest campaigner for not only One
Stop Border Posts (OSBP) but also 24-hour
border post operations, Horne-Ferreira says
it is important to come up with policies,
processes and procedures that are simple and
easy to use.
Creating a 24-hour border post or an OSBP
requires buy-in from all stakeholders, and
sadly, borders are just not a top priority for
government, says Curtis.
“A 24-hour border posts requires more staff
and therefore more housing. As borders are
not always a priority, the request for the extra
expenditure is not always seen in a positive
light.”
But not all borders need to operate 24
hours a day. Experts say only those with
heavy goods vehicle traffic flow should
qualify.
“Those that should be 24-hour and aren’t
experience extra delays as a result,” says
Curtis. “However moving to 24 hours from
say 8 hours will not cut the transit time by
two thirds. There aren’t clear statistics on
this, but only a maximum of 30% can be
expected.”
He says it is important not to rush into a
24-hour border post. “Beitbridge has shown
that it is very difficult to make it work and
not all of the stakeholders at the border
comply with the 24 hours. For example,
agents will only work on the clearing of
trucks up to 10pm. Even Customs does very
little work after this time. Only the release
of trucks takes place in the wee hours,” says
Curtis.
Ensuring successful border operations, be it
for a 24-hour border post, an OSBP or both,
needs all the stakeholders on board, says
Curtis. “And decisions that are made must be
sustainable.”
Horne-Ferreira says the Lebombo/Ressano
Garcia border has in the past five years seen
an estimated 100% increase in the flow of
freight. “As the border does not operate 24
hours a day, the daily closure of the border
leads to the accumulation of traffic overnight,
which in turn results in border service
providers having to staff at higher levels over
morning peak hours to cope with the influx.”
With companies exporting and importing
through this border claiming huge economic
time loss due to the early morning
congestion, there is no doubt that longer
working hours at a border post can greatly
benefit trade.
“It also impacts on road safety,” says
Horne-Ferreira, “as there is ample evidence
that the current closure of the border leads
to drivers ‘racing’ to the border to make the
crossing on time. This results in increased
speed and reckless driving and drivers not
taking the necessary rest breaks.”
Improving the operational efficiency of
border posts in Southern Africa is the first
step towards ultimately seeing the free
movement of goods and people within SADC
like in the EU.
“The different streams of border traffic
move at different paces and unless you
separate them, you will find huge wastage
across all users,” says Horne-Ferreira. “We
will simply have to come up with out of
the box solutions for the problems we are
facing.”
This includes leaning much more on
electronic systems and implementing state of
the art technology.
“It is also crucial that the different
countries start to trust each other and share
electronic information rather than people
being processed twice,” she says.
“I do believe though that with the
necessary positive attitude, sufficient staffing
levels and motivation, the public sector can
cope with the changes needed to bring about
24-hour OSBPs. It is however a reform
process from top to bottom.”