Motorists have been warned to maintain vigilance in respect to the truck congestion from Lesoma to Kazungula covering a 10-kilometre stretch on the A33 road.

In an interview, Chobe District senior traffic officer Superintendent Agripa Gambule attributed the congestion to a technical breakdown of a scanner at Zambian Revenue Authority (ZRA) at the Kazungula One Stop Border Post.

He said haulage trucks carrying goods headed up north to Zambia, Angola and Democratic Republic of Congo spent more than four days queuing up on the road awaiting the reinstatement of the scanner.

He said currently the ZRA was identifying trucks that were cleared manually to be processed at the border so that they could proceed with their respective journeys.

Superintendent Gambule stated that the situation had caused discontent among truck drivers who felt the ZRA was not attending to their cases fairly.

“It seems this issue of ZRA giving a green light to trucks that are checked physically without a scan is causing chaos because some truckers feel this is unfair as some of these trucks are carrying the same cargo as theirs.”

He underscored that the congestion posed a risk on the lives of road users as some of the trucks carried hazardous materials, adding that the pile-up could also result in road accidents.

He said the role of the police in this situation was to enforce the law by ensuring that there was cooperation on the road while truckers awaited to be assisted.

He indicated that the police had engaged with the truckers to appreciate their misgivings to see how best Botswana Police could tend to them.

Furthermore, the officer said his office had dedicated three patrol vehicles to monitor the situation and ensure there was good conduct.

Superintendent Gambule expressed concern with the fact that the Lesoma-Kazungula stretch was infested with wildlife that posed a danger to the lives of the truck drivers.

He said the police had cautioned them to be vigilant and avoid wandering off from the road or moving away from their trucks.

However, he said this was proving difficult as the drivers were forced to walk to Kazungula for necessities like water and food.

Speaking on behalf of truck drivers, Mr Derick Malambo expressed dissatisfaction with the criteria that ZRA was using to select trucks which qualified to be processed at the border because some of these trucks were carrying the same goods as theirs.

He said the congestion had caused a strain on them because they had been stuck in Kazungula for over four days without food and water.

Furthermore, he said some of the drivers’ passports had expired while they were on the queue as they would have accumulated fines by the time the scanner would be fixed.

Mr Malambo however commended the Botswana police for engaging with them to explore ways in which they could be assisted while they awaited the scanner to be fixed on the Zambian side. ENDS