MBABANE – The commencement of 24/7 operations last year at Eswatini’s primary border crossing with South Africa, known as Oshoek on the South African side, may have facilitated the tourist trade, but has not benefited road freight. Kilometres-long queues continue to line the highway, extending into SA. The reason why nothing has changed at all for the trucks is that the South African customs agents do not operate 24/7, and knock off at 17:00.
At the Eswatini border post, known as Ngwenya, customs agents are deployed around the clock. However, unable to pass into South Africa because they cannot get customs clearance at Oshoek, drivers have no choice but to queue until 07:00 when SA customs agents are back on the job.
Road freight companies complain of lost business, delivery delays, missed deadlines and imperilled perishables. They blame a lack of cross-border customs operations coordination.
The problem may soon find a solution after it was highlighted this week at a meeting with Eswatini business executives called by South Africa’s High Commissioner to Eswatini, Advocate Thoko Sipamla.
“The border delays lower overall business efficiency when it comes to imports by creating a backlog in the clearance of goods,” said Nathi Dlamini, CEO of Business Eswatini (formerly the Swaziland Chamber of Commerce).
Eswatini’s Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade, Manqoba Khumalo, called for the establishment of a one-stop border post coordinating the services of the Eswatini Revenue Services with the South African Revenue Service (Sars).
"Both governments must take real, practical steps to achieve a working partnership that would stimulate investment, improve ease of doing business, break down trade barriers, mobilise domestic resources, and support their visions of boosting economic growth through investment and trade,” Khumalo said.
The CEO of Standard Bank Eswatini, Mvuselelo Fakudze, expressed concerns often raised by road freight companies and their drivers about security on SA’s roads, particularly at night.
SA’s High Commissioner promised to review procedures and put in place round-the-clock customs clearance at Oshoek. The border post was just too important for SA, she said.
“Oshoek is the second busiest in South Africa. Both the South African and Eswatini economies are benefiting from growing trade between our two countries. Eswatini is currently exporting almost 70% of its goods and services to South Africa,” Sipamla said, citing figures from the 2021/22 fiscal year showing Eswatini had imported R23.676 billion of goods from SA. This represents 74% of all goods brought into the country that year.
As Eswatini’s economy recovered from a Covid-19 pandemic-related economic slowdown, its imports from SA rose 25% over 2020/21.
