Immigration authorities at Beitbridge Border Post have deployed more staff to deal with influx of travelers this festive season.
Leave days for staff members have been set aside, Assistant Regional Immigration officer-in-charge of administration at Beitbridge Border Post, Innocent Tawanda Hamandishe said.
“We have suspended all off and leave days for our members of staff so as to ensure that we operate at full strength throughout the festive season.
“We anticipate the volume of traffic to peak between 22 and 24 December as more people come into the country. The departure peak period has also been set for 2 and 3 January next year when most people working or studying in South Africa will be returning,” he is quoted saying.
Beitbridge Border Post is one of the busiest ports of entry in SADC where around 170 000 people, 2 100 buses, 14 000 to 15 000 haulage trucks and 25 000 private cars pass through on a monthly basis.
He said the border post has 66 immigration officers which are adequate to deal with an increase in the volume of both human and vehicular traffic.
Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) has also added 25 more workers.
Zimra has 307 employees at Beitbridge but requires 526 to operate at full strength