ZIMRA has dispelled reports that the delays marring the Beitbridge Border Post are due to the taxman using a manual system to clear commercial cargo, The Herald reports.

The remarks that ZIMRA is delaying the movement of traffic at the border were made by the South Africa Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi who told a press briefing that Zimbabwe was using a system that was clearing the trucks at a snail pace:

It is a well-known fact that the South African Revenue Service (SARS) systems are fully automated and can process many trucks per hour on any one day while the Zimbabwe systems are largely manual and can process only 20 trucks per hour, at most 30 at peak performance. The South Africa side cannot send more trucks than the Zimbabwean can handle.

When truckers leave the holding area to get hastily to the border with the vain hope that they’ll put pressure on the SA authorities to process them as quickly as possible, they are expecting a miracle because the system works in a cooperative way like a relay race.

Dispelling the report ZIMRA through its spokesperson Francis Chimanda said:

The clearing system is therefore highly automated and supports a number of high-end efficient processes. The statement referred to above is therefore not factual and unfounded.

5 truck drivers died at the border due to border delays last year during the festive season.