South Africa again opens border with Mozambique late, increasing travellers’ despair – O País

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South Africa again opens border with Mozambique late, increasing travellers’ despair – O País

2:57 CAT | 11 Jan 2021

Photo: O País

The South African border only started operating after 11:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, and at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, instead of the 6:00 a.m. established with its Mozambican counterpart.

Hundreds of miners waited in intense heat for hours to enter South Africa, crowded and at risk of contracting the new coronavirus.

In fact, health authorities in Maputo province revealed that 43 travellers had tested positive for Covid-19 , some on the Mozambique side and others on the border of the neighbouring country.

A South African citizen who was prevented from entering Mozambique last Friday for presenting a rapid Covid-19 test returned this Saturday and managed to cross into the national territory.

On Sunday, the busiest land border in Mozambique again experienced excess capacity. At the time of going to press on Sunday, it was still difficult to cross to Lebombo in South Africa, despite some improvements compared to the chaos that existed up until last Wednesday.

Rosita Alfredo, who was waiting in the intense heat for her turn to be attended to, told ‘O País’ that what was happening was sad, and because the South Africans did not accept the tests done in Mozambique.

Mozambican Olympic champion Lurdes Mutola, who was returning from South Africa via Ressano Garcia, said: “I saw the flood [of people] and I couldn’t believe it. But it has to do with what we are experiencing at the moment [an increase in Covid-19 cases]. Unfortunately, we [all] have to do the tests.”

Juca Bata, spokesman for the National Migration Service in the province of Maputo, said the situation was being constantly monitored by Mozambique and its South African counterpart.

“The long queues are the result of the late opening of the South African border post because the health personnel” of that country “arrived at 11:00 a.m. and the service started. We all know that South African migration cannot process travellers without health personnel to do the Covid-19 tests,” Bata said.

National Migration Service spokesman Celestino Matsinhe said on Sunday that the ‘Tivikeleni Covid-19’ operation, scheduled to end on Monday, would run until Friday.

This Sunday morning, more than 300 miners entered South Africa, after being given the Covid-19 test at the Ressano Garcia border.

By Amandio Borges

Source: O País