Lebombo border: 24/7 for busy season
Aubrey Sambo
23 December 2008
Travellers crossing the Lebombo border post between Mpumalanga and Mozambique this holiday season will face tighter rules and regulations, with additional police and traffic officers being deployed to the post, which will stay open 24 hours a day through to 16 January.
"Experience gained during the massive influx of traffic during December 2006 and December 2007 has played a significant role in this year's planning," Maputo Corridor Logistics Initiative chief operating officer Barbara Mommen said in Nelspruit earlier this month.
Despite the additional staff at the border post, she said that long queues and traffic congestion would still be expected.
Mommen added that no animals would be allowed to travel through, while firearms would not be allowed across the border either.
"Firearms are not permitted to be carried across the border," she said. "Neither may firearms be handed into any police station in South Africa, due to changes in legislation in this regard."
Vaccines, licences, insurance
Mommen said that travellers who have been to countries affected by Yellow Fever will need to have a Yellow Fever vaccination certificate, and has also advised travellers to obtain an international drivers licence.
In addition, motorists whose cars are still financed by the bank need to get an authorisation and insurance repatriation confirmation from the same bank before attempting to cross the border.
Mozambican fee
Mommen also urged travellers to avoid people who claim to be government officials, who offer to complete travel documentation for a fee. "These individuals are fraudsters and should be avoided," she said. "No fees are payable on either side of the border for the completion of documents."
The only fee charged is R17, which is levied by Mozambican immigration for travellers into Mozambique for processing passports at Ressano Garcia.
"Receiving the fee will be an immigration officer in full uniform," she said, adding that motorists were allowed to ask for official identification and an official government receipt from the immigration officer.
Source: BuaNews
