The decision to launch a multi-department investigation into the congestion at the country’s border posts in December has once again highlighted the need for closer collaboration between government and the private sector.Border posts have been in the spotlight since chaos broke out at two of the country’s busiest land border posts, with trucks and passengers queueing for days to get through.Parliament has also called for answers on what led to the congestion.As government continues on its path to move towards a one-stop border post (OSBP) system, the private sector has called for a different approach.Sihle Mthiyane, a director at the Department of Home Affairs, said the public had until the end of February to comment on the current draft OSBP policy document.Industry, however, believes that the OSBP concept is outdated and that home affairs would be better advised to look at a smart border system.According to Dr Juanita Maree, chairperson of the South African Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff), this concept has been around for at least two years and involves bringing all the different methodologies within a border post system together and getting collective compliance and collaboration across the supply chain.“We do not want to go back to old ways that are still cumbersome and slow. We need to establish border posts that have different lanes for cargo to create faster crossing time and reduce logistics costs while not compromising security.”Louise Wiggett, managing director of Global Trade Solution (GTS), agreed, saying the OSBP process had been stop-start from the get go. “One must ask if it’s maybe not the right time now to take a breather and look at where the world is moving. It will give us the opportunity to re-engineer the proposals on the table based on that.”Mthiyane said home affairs was not opposed to collaborating with the private sector and would welcome the interaction.Calling on industry to draw up a response paper to the OSBP draft policy, he said this could be used to organise a meeting between home affairs and industry representatives. “It would be prudent at such a meeting to ensure the minister and the director general are present. Our intention is to deliver a solution that makes trade easier. If we are developing something that is not going to achieve that, then we are wasting time and resources.”Maree said borders in Southern Africa needed to be harmonised and simplified while systems had to be aligned.“We need to use the technological advancements at our disposal to boost border productivity and ef f icienc y.”Industry believes that the OSBP concept is outdated and that home affairs would be better advised to look at a smart border system.– Dr Juanita Maree “
