Goods bought in shops in Musina, Limpopo, are being carried into Zimbabwe through holes in the border fence instead of through the Beitbridge checkpoint, a GroundUp report found.
Reporters saw loaded trucks driving along dirt roads next to the border. At the Limpopo River, goods are put onto rafts, small boats, donkeys or people and taken across.
“Each load can earn them more than R1 000. There is a good market for chicken, usually braai packs, because it is expensive in Zimbabwe,” a woman linked to cross-border trade told GroundUp.
She said some shops in Musina open as early as 5am. One truck can make five or more trips a day to the river.
She said people pay a driver’s fee for transport. They also pay young men hiding in the bush R50 to watch out for soldiers. One crossing point is called Maroyi, she said.
A smuggler told GroundUp he carries goods on his head across the river. He said he charges about R150 per package and the trip takes 30 minutes. He said he does the work because he is unemployed.
According to the report, buyers avoid the official border because Zimbabwe’s import duties are very high. The duties are set out in a 1,162-page tariff handbook from the Zimbabwean government.
One man said the duty could be bargained down. “I bought a solar pump for R8 000 in South Africa and was supposed to pay R2 500 at the border officially but negotiated it to R500 which I gave the customs officer. No receipt,” he told GroundUp.
Two soldiers at a small roadblock near the border said they often turn back Zimbabweans who cross. They said people they used to detain were released and crossed again the same day.
A guard employed by a game farm to stop poaching said he does not stop people crossing. He said they carry groceries, blankets, beds and fridges to sell in Zimbabwe.
Some holes in the fence are made by people and others by elephants moving between the two countries, the report said.
A Musina shopkeeper said business has dropped. He said soldier roadblocks on the road to Harare charge people “fees”, so some traders now use other borders, including Zambia.
Farm owner Hermanus Schoeman said he had to close his game farm along the border partly because of animals crossing freely. “If I put out lucerne for my game, the next day there’s a hundred donkeys there,” he said.
“Cattle moving freely across the border, on a daily basis, cross into my farm, mix with local cattle. A big percentage have foot-and-mouth disease,” Schoeman said.
Schoeman said his security team protected the barbed wire fence while it was being built. He said holes started appearing as soon as it was handed to the government and his services were no longer used.
The Border Management Authority was set up three years ago to coordinate border control. GroundUp reported that it has had a troubling audit and problems with corruption.
Musina lawyer Hennie Erwee is running a court case for Schoeman to force the national government to fix the border.
Source: this article is based on reporting by Moneyweb. Image: Moneyweb. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Business desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Anelisa Nkuna covers business and money news for Tzaneen Voice. Anelisa reports on the rand, fuel prices, interest rates, jobs, Eskom, Transnet, farming and company results. The aim is simple: explain what the numbers mean for household budgets, small businesses and workers in South Africa.