Roads leading to Lebombo Border Post no longer blockaded
Several roads leading to the Lebombo Border had been blockaded due to trucks awaiting proceed-to-port permits, the high volume of trucks attempting to enter the border post, and truck drivers not obeying to the rules of the road. The situation has changed, however.
The N4 and surrounding roads near the Lebombo Border were closed following truck blockades in the area on Tuesday June 6.
The road had been closed since the early hours that morning. At the time, the queue had started at the Tenbosch/N4 junction, about 20km from the border post.
The Border Management Authority’s (BMA) deputy commissioner, Major General Chilembe, had previously told Lowvelder that the cause of the blockades was a combination of trucks awaiting proceed-to-port permits, the high volume of trucks attempting to enter the border post, as well as truck drivers not obeying to the rules of the road and blocking lanes.
Transporters Dion Gregory and Neels Pohl had said the backlogs were costing transporters millions per day and that trucks were entering the residential areas of Komatipoort, causing damage to the roads and creating congestion in town.
Mananga, the R571, Tenbosch and Strydomblok were also all affected.
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The Komatipoort Business Chamber’s Jan Engelbrecht said many Komatipoort parents were late in dropping their children off at school for exams as a consequence of the blockades. “We need 24/7/365 traffic law enforcement. It should be complemented with policing to address the rising crime. We trust the BMA may supplement the numbers of traffic law enforcement. Unfortunately, time runs out and we fear the frustrated community and affected parties may take matters into their own hands.”
The chamber’s John O’Reilly added that the situation has prevailed for almost two years. “It has clearly been deteriorating month after month to the state that it currently is in,” he said.
A joint statement released by SARS, the police, the BMA and the South African Association of Freight Forwarders on Tuesday said the land border posts were experiencing congestion and delays in relation to the cross-border processing of trucks and cargo. It said the organisations worked collaboratively and with urgency to resolve the challenges and to restore border processing to normal.
Chilembe said on Wednesday morning that the systems were working again.
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The statement also called on affected transporters and truck drivers to exercise patience and restraint, and to refrain from acting in a manner not conducive to maintaining the organised flow of traffic to and through borders. “Maintaining the orderly and continuous movement of trucks to the border is imperative to enable the processing of trucks to take place on a manual and interim basis, pending the resolution of the technical challenges being experienced. In this regard, and to avoid further congestion, we also request trucks without a proceed-to-border notification status not to approach the border and not to park at the border while awaiting clearance documents.”
A provincial police spokesperson, Captain Magonseni Nkosi, had told Lowvelder that all stakeholders would work on possible strategies to avoid such a challenge in future.
