A push to end border delays
Cross-border journeys in Southern Africa can stretch into hours of waiting when two countries repeat the same immigration, customs, and security checks. One-stop border posts (OSBP) could change that for travellers and businesses in the region, and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is now pushing to speed up their establishment.
President Cyril Ramaphosa made the call after the 46th SADC Summit in Durban on August 17. He said trucks should not spend days waiting at borders. The plan forms part of a wider drive to improve regional corridors, aiming to cut delays, lower transport costs, and make movement more predictable.
How one-stop border posts work
A traditional border crossing requires travellers and trucks to stop at facilities on both sides, with each country carrying out its own checks. An OSBP brings the neighbouring countries' agencies together at one facility, allowing travellers and cargo to complete required processes at a single location while reducing duplicated checks and queues.
The model does not remove border controls. Customs, immigration, and security agencies still perform their duties, but they coordinate those duties instead of working in isolation. Digital systems will form another part of the change, with SADC's coordinated border management approach including electronic information sharing, joint controls, and single-window systems.
The need for change
The scale of the problem is clear at busy regional crossings. Some trucks take between 24 and 36 hours to clear, while processing can take less than half a day.
SADC has already established OSBPs at several crossings, including Chirundu between Zambia and Zimbabwe, Kazungula between Botswana and Zambia, and Mchinji/Mwami between Malawi and Zambia.
Chirundu holds particular significance: it became the first OSBP in sub-Saharan Africa when it was commissioned in 2009.
What could change for South Africans
For South Africans, the effects could be most noticeable on major regional routes. Lebombo and Ressano Garcia, linking South Africa and Mozambique, are among the planned OSBP projects.
A wider vision for regional integration
The summit also approved the SADC Tourism UNIVISA agreement, which aims to simplify tourist travel across participating states.
President Ramaphosa expressed optimism about the region's potential, saying Southern Africa has all the ingredients required to become one of the world's great regions of growth and opportunity. He also said they would strengthen regional electricity interconnection and accelerate investment in generation and transmission infrastructure, and that they intended to increase their own resources to finance their own development priorities.