THE transport sector, which is a prerequisite for economic growth and improved quality of life, made front page headlines in the country’s daily newspapers last week and I will look at this important subject in this week’s article.
On Monday last week, about 100 trucks coming from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) en-route to South Africa got stuck at Kazungula border in Southern Province of Zambia.
The trucks, which were mostly carrying copper products from the DRC, were not allowed entry into Botswana as authorities from that country feared the spread of the deadly Ebola virus.
Indeed, such fears are justified as the outbreak of the Ebola virus, which has already been confirmed in the DRC, is a threat to human capital and other economic prospects of any nation.
However, the blocking of trucks carrying copper products raises a lot of concern on the practicability of deepening regional integration in southern Africa, especially after the Southern African Development Community (SADC) recently held its 34th ordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government.
DRC, Zambia, Botswana and South Africa, which were all involved in the deliberations last week, are all members of SADC and one wonders why one country within the same regional grouping allowed cargo trucks to pass through their borders, while another country denied entry.
Talking about the Ebola virus, many countries in the SADC have by now invested heavily in screening people entering their territories.
For example, Zambia alone has set aside more than K100 million to mitigate the threats of this disease.
However, it was surprising that the trucks which were allowed entry into  Zambia from DRC could not be allowed entry into Botswana en-route to South Africa.
The relevant authorities at the Botswana border should have screened all trucks from the DRC and allow them to proceed to their final destination in the spirit of promoting the common agenda in the SADC region.
During the SADC Summit held in Zimbabwe last month, the Council of Ministers called for the establishment of a regional fund to assist member states in emergency situations, especially in dealing with the Ebola virus.
The ministers directed the finance sub-committee of SADC to assess modalities for the establishment of a regional fund to assist member states in emergency situations of a medical nature including the possibility of utilising the existing funds.
Further, the SADC Council of Ministers commended South Africa for offering its technical capacity and experience on Ebola and encouraged member states to take advantage of the offer.
The SADC member countries should have accelerated this resolution of establishing a regional fund against Ebola to mitigate its threats collectively instead of putting restrictions on transporters.
It was clear that some stranded drivers at Kazungula Border were unconvinced in that they had to spend about five days and more money at Kazungula Border to sustain their livelihood.
Debatably, this move pushed up the cost of doing business.
Worse still, companies and industries in South Africa had to wait longer for their copper products to arrive from DRC and one would only image the unforeseen costs they incurred as they did so.
It is also interesting to note that most inconvenienced truck drivers later used an alternative route from Livingstone through the Victoria Falls border in Zimbabwe where there were no such restrictions at the border.
The Zimbabwe route, however, proved to be a challenge as some drivers complained that they had to pay more to cross into that country compared to charges at Kazungula border.
Some drivers said they had to pay US$400 for their cargo to pass through Victoria Falls border in Zimbabwe compared to less than US$400 charges required when passing through the Botswana route to South Africa.
Again one questions the practicability of deepening regional integration when countries within SADC have different charges for regional transporters.
In this regard, I wish to appeal to SADC countries to further simplify their border clearance processes and come up with single entry charges for regional transporters to reduce the cost of doing business in the region.
Once that is done, it will go a long way to deepen regional integration and ultimately improve the quality of lives for SADC citizens.
Failure to harmonise charges for transporters would make the efforts of deepening regional integration a mere academic exercise.
It is an indisputable fact that road transport accounts for the majority of surface shipments in the SADC region and it is, therefore, my hope that the region will seek ways of removing bottlenecks in this area.
Initiatives such as the North South Corridor will be threatened if individual countries in southern Africa start imposing restrictions on transporters.
The corridor, which stretches from South Africa to some parts of East Africa, is an important one as it is aimed at enhancing transportation through improvements to road, rail and ports, as well as trade facilitation.
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