Beitbridge
Govt: SA has no capacity to treat COVID-19 patients from neighbouring countries
Many hospitals are battling to cope under the strain of the second surge in coronavirus infections, which is largely driven by a second variant.
Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi addressed media on Wednesday regarding the Beitbridge congestion that lasted almost three days, where he explained that the main cause for this was trucks. #COVID19 #Beitbridge #HomeAffairs
The party’s Shadow Minister of Defence Kobus Marias and his team have been on an oversight visit to evaluate conditions at several border posts between South Africa and Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
The border post has been a site of widespread criticism recently, with various reports exposing how easy it is to pass through it.
MPs have compared the fence to the Berlin Wall where people tried to cross into West Germany seeking a better life during the Cold War.
The project was commissioned by minister Patricia de Lille in March, shortly after a national state of disaster was declared by the president.
Some of the group had allegedly been involved in cross-border smuggling along the Limpopo River.
The department says traffic volumes are expected to increase again at border posts from Sunday.
Home Affairs has recorded almost 200,000 people travelling in and out of the country over the past three weeks.
The Limpopo Roads Department says the port between Zimbabwe and South Africa is at its busiest at this time of year but says officials remain vigilant.
The festive season is always chaotic at Beitbridge, but now an online system for clearing commercial cargo has broken down.
The state-run 'Chronicle' says people are paying anything between R100 and R500 for a one-way trip.
Maite Nkoana-Mashabane says SA is doing its best to resolve the dispute over Zimbabwe's new restrictive laws.
The unrest follows protests on Friday in Beitbridge, where angry residents burned down a warehouse.
Violent protests erupted in Beitbridge, Musina, over the Zimbabwean government’s decision to ban imports of certain South African products in a bid to boost Zimbabwe’s ailing economy.
Zimbabweans protested over the restrictions placed on goods imported into Zimbabwe.
Officials say while no other incidents have been reported, they will continue to monitor the area.
The unrest which started on Friday, was triggered by strict new import regulations.
Home affairs officials say demonstrations were only on the Zimbabwean side of the border.