Story by Tichaona Kurewa
THE Department of Immigration has put in place a cocktail of measures to improve efficiency at the country’s ports of entry.
This includes Kazungula Border Post which links Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, and Botswana.
In the recent past, immigration officers at border posts such as Kazungula were overwhelmed by the increase in the volume of travellers.
The script has, however, changed after various interventions by the department as confirmed by travellers and tour operators who spoke to this news crew at Kazungula Border Post this Friday.
The department outlined the measures instituted to end congestion.
“As a stopgap measure, we have taken on board staff members from not-so-busy stations from our region. We have also received relief staff members from Head Quarters. These are temporary measures whilst we await permanent deployments of staff members who are being trained at our head office. They could be deployed as early as next week,” said the Acting Regional Immigration Officer, of Northwestern Region, Mr Trustworth Manatsire.
It emerged that all counters at Kazungula Border Post are now functional.
“In addition, we have introduced a group clearance system where group documents are being cleared from dedicated counters. We have also introduced an express counter for non-visa-requiring nationals so that they do not mix with visa-requiring nationals,” said Mr Manatsire.
Daily, Kazungula Border Post handles an average of 800 travellers, with about 60 percent of these inbound and 90 percent of them having their visas processed at the port of entry.
Other measures adopted by the Department of Immigration include the introduction of registers where representatives from tour operators log in and out.
As a lasting solution to congestion, the department is also installing a robust electronic border management system.
