13 Jan 2014

Kazungula Border Post is one of the busiest in Botswana. Everyday traders pass through the border to transport goods to and from other parts of Africa.

The busy Kazungula border, which is a hive of activity throughout the day, has given birth to some of the most innovative business ideas that were meant to provide cheap services to travellers and traders. One such business idea is the manyamu-nyamu. This means ‘porters’ in Nyanja.

They are renowned for providing carrying services for traders who are loath to pay the hefty P400 to have their goods transported by vehicles on a three minute journey across the border. This gave rise to manyamu-nyamu, porters who have an astounding ability to carry the traders’ heavy weights at a lesser fee than the one charged by vehicle owners.

“We can carry anything on our backs. Our customers are usually carrying refrigerators, window frames, wardrobes, television sets or huge bags of flour and pasta,” said one of the manyamu-nyamus.  Others have improvised with makeshift wheelbarrows and trolleys that they use to carry some of the goods.

The advent of the manyamu-nyamus, and the increasingly busy Kazungula border, are both proof that traders from all over Africa, especially Zambia, prefer Botswana as their shopping destination of choice.

Some even cross over to Kasane just to buy groceries. Two of the traders, Mr Chiluba Mbewe and Mr Bernard Semata revealed that they cross into Botswana to buy supplies on a daily basis. They added that groceries are cheaper in Botswana than in Zambia, and that they are making a roaring trade buying groceries in bulk in Botswana and reselling them back in Zambia.

Ms Julia Shaman’gonze resides 400km away from Kasane, and she crosses into Botswana regularly to purchase goods for resale back in Zambia.  Ms Shaman’gonze has found a constant and reliable supply of cheap goods in the Chinese owned shops.

Unfortunately for her, she has to travel an additional 480km from Kasane to reach the Chinese shops in Francistown. “We have Chinese stores in our country but they are very expensive,” she said.

Batswana have also benefitted from this cross border trade. She offers transport services to those who can afford it for the short stretch between the Botswana-Zambia borderpost via the ferry.

“I charge P400 for one trip. People say it’s expensive, but they forget that I have to pay P160 for my vehicle on the return journey,” she said.
She has three vans and each of them makes an average of three trips on a normal day. Similarly, Batswana also cross into Zambia to shop for hairpieces, African print fabric or chitenges and second-hand shoes. Ends