By Thokozani Mazibuko
Emaswati have been warned by South African cross-border transport operators not to dare travel to South Africa on seven–seaters and non-cross-border public transports as their vehicles will be impounded and released upon paying a fine of E50 000.
They mentioned that all along, they were demanding a fine of E10 000, but now they will require a sum of E50 000 after realising that Emaswati were hell-bent on stealing their jobs.
The South African cross-border transport operators issued this warning yesterday during the annual bilateral Joint Route Management Group (JRMG) and Joint Committee (JC) meeting held at The George Hotel.
The two-day meeting was attended by the cross-border transport operators, passengers, cross boarder associations and other relevant stakeholders both from Eswatini and South Africa.
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It aimed to discuss issues related to cross-border facilitation between the two countries and by so doing, improve trade between Eswatini and South Africa.
The issues that were discussed during the meeting, which was organised by the Ministry of public works and Transport included amongst others, route descriptions, joint venture relations, tourism operations (seven-seater/shuttle) as well as illegal crossings and operations.
According to the South African cross-border transport operators, it was uncalled for, for the Ministry of Public Works and Transport to issue special permits also known as temporary permits to Emaswati who either used public transports or seven-seaters when ferrying Emaswati to South Africa whether for excursions, funerals, church services and weddings amongst other functions.
This, they said, was because when issuing out the special permits, Emaswati ended up stealing their jobs, given that the permits allowed them to travel to South Africa for seven consecutive days.
“After obtaining the permits, Emaswati will travel to South Africa and come back on the same day and then they will use the next six remaining days on their special permits to illegally ferry our customers from
Eswatini to South Africa using the same permit, while pretending as though they were still transporting the same passengers they were initially afforded the permit to transport,” said one of the South African cross border transport operators.
They mentioned that if Emaswati wanted to travel to South Africa, they should hire authorised cross-border public transports at the country’s bus ranks, serving the route they will be using during the visit.
“Or better yet, after obtaining the special permits, they should contact Eswatini Interstate Transport Association (EITA),
whose officials will then liaise with us to secure our approval on whether or not that particular public transport or seven-seater should use our route,” South African cross border transport operators.
They mentioned that in that way, it would be easier for them to monitor if that public transport worker or motorist was adhering to the provisions of the special permits whilst in South Africa.
They pointed out that there were instances whereby Emaswati would be afforded special permits, say maybe to go to Pietermaritzburg, yet they will be seen ferrying passengers in Cape Town, which was a complete violation of the provisions of the permits, hence they vowed that now heads will roll if Emaswati were still not willing to repent from their wayward acts.
They argued that the Ministry of public works and Transport should desist from issuing special permits to Emaswati because it was not reasonable to do so since they (South African cross-border transport operators)
have cross-border public transports through a joint venture with their Eswatini counterparts and therefore, it should be standard procedure that anyone who wanted to travel to South Africa must high their cross border public transport because they already possess the legal permits to service those particular routes.
According to the South African cross-border operators, another mode of transport that was a thorn in their flesh was shuttles, which were also stealing their businesses.
They pointed out that by law, shuttles were not supposed to ferry passengers from one place to another to generate profits as their sole obligation was to transport tourists who were connecting to airlines.
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However, he said of late shuttles were deviating from their core duties as they were seen transporting ordinary passengers willy-nilly from Eswatini to South Africa without facing any repercussions for their unlawful act.
They pleaded with the Ministry of Public Works and Transport to deal with this issue as a matter of urgency since it has been a thorn in their flesh since the year 2014.
The South African cross-border transport operators also raised the issue of illegal crossing at Mshololo area, which they said was also costing their businesses.
They pointed out that most Emaswati were no longer boarding cross-border public transport when travelling to South Africa, but rather they preferred to use the aforementioned illegal crossing, resulting in their businesses collapsing.
They mentioned that according to the law if Emaswati boarded their cross-border public transport when travelling to South Africa and used their passports in the process, they were given only seven days to stay in South Africa, which according to many Emaswati was too small.
“As a result, Emaswati now prefer to use the informal crossing at Mshololo without using their passports, so that they can stay in South Africa for a considerable number of days without being bothered by anyone.
We are therefore, appealing to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport to consider increasing the number of days that Emaswati will be obligated to stay in South Africa when exiting through the country’s borders so that they can once again use our cross-border transports when travelling to South Africa.
