Non-Tariff Barriers

Complaint

Complaint number

NTB-000-662  

NTB Type

8.8. Issues related to transit  

Complaint

Zimbabwean truck drivers are now facing police harassment near the weighbridge at Matola on the Maputo corridor. The police are taking Zimbabwe drivers licence and their passports, supposedly to check the authentication of the driver holding the documents. The driver is released in order to go and off load and is briefed that the police will have an answer for him on his return.

On his return driver is told that the licence is a fake and the driver is to pay a spot fine of ZAR5000.00. It appears that the police are rubbing the metal disc with something, so that certain information is now very faded, and not legible. When the driver produces his international drivers’ licence, to confirm the validity that is taken away by police, who only return it after some hours, with the expiry date is now illegible. The ZAR 5000.00 rand fine is enforced. The language is a convenient barrier, as the police claim not to be able to speak English. All fines in Mozambique seem to be ZAR 5000.00.

Drivers are detained for days until they come up with some sort of cash ranging from ZAR400.00 upwards if they are lucky. This problem is more prevalent during weekends.

Please can we have a stop put to this practice? Defacing a Government document I believe is an offence, and should not be tolerated. Business is challenging enough as it is, without trade barriers being further forced upon the transport industry.  

Progress update note

During the 15th meeting of the SADC Sub Committee held in May 2017, the Secretariat reported that the SCCC made general observations on similar issues where receipts are not issued. SCCC recommended that border authorities should put measures in place such as hidden cameras etc to identify culprits. Member States will report on progress regarding the recommendation.  

Policy or regulatory NTB

No 

Location

Mozambique: Weighbridge at Matola on the Maputo corridor (Weighbridge)  

Reporting Country or Region

Zimbabwe  

Country specific trade issue

No  

Date of incident

2015-02-19  

Status

In process  

Product Description

All products

Computer-assisted translation

• English
• Arabic
• French
• Portuguese

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Total value

0  

Date reported

2015-02-26 08:46  

Modified

2017-06-15 16:03