HARARE – President Mnangagwa is today expected to meet his South African counterpart Mr Cyril Ramaphosa for the launch of the Border Management Authority (BMA), in Musina, Limpopo Province.
The two leaders are also expected to jointly tour the Beitbridge Border Post before having their meeting in South Africa’s border town.
It is understood that among other things on the agenda, the two leaders will deliberate on a number of border related issues.
Zimbabwe has transformed its component of the border in a move that is set to improve efficiency and match the development matrix between South Africa and its neighbour to the north.
Government has completed upgrading the Beitbridge Border Post at a cost of US$300 million in a private public partnership with the Zimborders Consortium.
Beitbridge (Zimbabwe) now has three terminals for freight, buses and private cars/pedestrians and also has automated links to South Africa, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique, Angola, DRC, Malawi and Tanzania.
In a statement yesterday, South Africa’s Presidency said the launch of the BMA followed its formal establishment and assumption of its status as a schedule 3 (A) public entity on April 1, 2023.
“The establishment of the BMA means that South Africa now has an integrated border management platform, with a single command and control with which to support the attainment of secure borders, safe travel and trade,” said the statement.
“As part of the launch, President Ramaphosa will receive President Mnangagwa of the Republic of Zimbabwe to hold official talks and undertake a guided tour of the Beitbridge border, supported by members of the Inter-Ministerial Coordinating Committee (IMCC) on the BMA.
The two leaders’ visit to Sadc’s busiest inland port of entry follows the approval by Pretoria of a proposal by the Ministry of Home Affairs to upgrade six of its major ports of entry including the Beitbridge Border Post.
South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi told the media in Pretoria recently that he had secured full support from the Ministry of Finance to start the projects.
The six earmarked ports of entry are: Beitbridge (Zimbabwe), Lebombo (Mozambique), Maseru Bridge (Lesotho), Ficksburg (Lesotho), Kopfontein (Botswana) and Oshoek (Eswatini).
He said the six ports of entry projects would cover the full infrastructure development of each designated border post and the provision of the required services.
“In order to ensure that the ongoing operations at each of the designated ports of entry are not interrupted, construction will be undertaken in phases,” said Dr Motsoaledi.
“During construction, the project is expected to create in the order of 38 000 jobs in areas around the six designated ports of entry.
The project is being undertaken on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) basis. The procurement process is therefore subject to the procedures set out in Treasury Regulation 16 for initiating, procuring and concluding PPP projects.
He said the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the six ports of entry projects were issued on Sunday this week and they were already inviting interested parties to participate.
The RFP, Dr Motsoaledi said, was on the e-tender portal and other government websites.
He said they were now looking for partners to engage them in the planned infrastructure development model.
Since the advent of democracy, there has been an exponential increase in the number of people moving between South Africa and the countries in the region.
As a result, he said South Africa’s land ports of entry were very congested and that continued to stifle trade instead of enabling it.
“Of the 53 land ports of entry, we have now earmarked six of our largest and busiest, by traffic volume, for re-development in order to address the congestion.” – Herald
