She said this during her visit to the Beitbridge corridor where she led the CrossAlive road safety campaign in Musina on Wednesday, August 2. She was told by customs officials at Beitbridge that they only have one scan, which cost around R6 million each, which makes it difficult to do their work efficiently.

“The scans will help a lot to eradicate the high amount of smuggling of cigarettes, explosives, and criminal activities coming from Zimbabwe and other neighbouring countries. “Crime at ports of entry costs the country so much more than what the scans cost,” she said.

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One of the challenges at the border is the sophistication of crime and smuggling syndicates. Chikunga was also made aware of the infrastructure challenges and how they are instrumental to the slow crossings at the border.

Currently, trucks and small cars are using the same portal to cross the border and that slows down traffic. The minister has promised that the challenges at the border will be looked into and will be resolved with the new development at the border.