Zimbabwe and Zambia are working on plans to make the existing Victoria Falls Border Post – which links the two countries – as a one-stop border post, to expedite the movement of travellers and cargo.

Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) Commissioner General, Faith Mazani, says the concept will also be spread to other border posts after the roll-out of the Vic Falls post.

Mazani says a one-stop border post already exists at Chirundu, and was one of the first such initiatives in the region. An agreement between the Zimbabwean and Zambian presidents initiated the development of the Vic Falls Border Post.

The advantages of a one-stop border post are that traffic going into Zambia will be cleared on the Zambian side, while traffic entering Zimbabwe is cleared on the Zimbabwean side, thereby cutting down time spent at the border.

“We are also looking at the same initiative with South Africa. The Beitbridge Border Post (24-hour South Africa-Zimbabwe border post) is the biggest inland border in the region, and facilitates trade from South Africa – more specifically, Durban – connecting the world to Africa, even to countries such as the DRC and Tanzania.”

Mazani says staff will not be retrenched in the switch to a one-stop border post, however systems for a virtual border post are being developed. “We are also in discussions with our governments to have a one-stop border post at Plumtree (Botswana-Zimbabwe), and we will be expanding the network of one-stop border posts; but this of course depends on the infrastructure capital we need to build these facilities.”