Power cuts cause massive backlog at Beitbridge border post

Eskom’s rolling blackouts not only plunged South Africans into darkness but also disrupted services at the busy Beitbridge border post on Tuesday, with queues stretching as far as 4km.

Stage 6 load shedding was implemented over the weekend and reduced to stage 5 from Monday.

In a media briefing on Sunday, Eskom CEO André de Ruyter told South Africans to brace themselves for more darkness.

The power outages have affected the country’s busiest border post, Beitbridge, resulting in it being offline.

Zimbabwe’s Secretary for Information and Publicity, Nick Mangwana on Tuesday tweeted that the loss of power led to congestion at the border post as passports were not able to be scanned.

This left thousand of travellers on both sides of the border stranded on Tuesday night.

BEITBRIDGE
There is a more than 4km queue at the border this morning. This is a result of power outages on the other side which also affect the network. Last night travelers were left stranded as passports could not be scanned. Network came back after 12 midnight. pic.twitter.com/80a8VxeR3l

— Nick Mangwana (@nickmangwana) September 20, 2022

The border post backlog even created traffic on the town’s roads because customs officials could not process the commercial cargo.

The Beitbridge border post is known for having long queues, whether the systems are running smoothly or not, with about 25 000 people passing through the border daily.

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