The situation is so bad sometimes that truckers β some of whom are Namibian β spend up to two weeks before crossing the border between the two countries. Currently trucks, people and cars that cross the border are ferried on a pontoon, which makes up to three trips in one hour, making the wait longer. Most times, New Era understands, the truck queue stretches up to seven kilometres from the border.
Relating their ordeal, truckers said they spend between five to 12 days at the Botswana border before they are able to cross into Zambia and vice versa, exposing them to the temptations of sex workers and unhygienic conditions.
Preference to cross, they say, is given to trucks with perishable goods. And with the long wait the truckers allege they are denied their peaceful sleep by sex workers. Apart from the physical exhaustion experienced by the truckers, they claim they also make a loss in salary. The metre long bridge will comprise a road, pedestrian sideway and a rail. The project, which kicked off in , is only expected to be completed by October after it was delayed for seven months as a result of unforeseen circumstances such as rain.
It has currently provided employment to 1, locals. The revelations were made during a two-day workshop held last week at Kasane, Botswana with journalists from Namibia, Botswana and Zambia. Another major concern raised as result of the delay is young girls, some as young as 12, delving into prostitution. The headman of Kazungula Morgan Makanga said the sex trade is growing in the area.
Superintendent Mac Sonny of the police in Kazungula said the sex industry is rife at the border town. However the police are challenged in identifying sex workers. So far the police have registered one case of human trafficking that is before the courts in Botswana. Quarterly training has also been held to sensitise the community about human trafficking, said Kushatha Tsokedi, an administrator in the office of the district commissioner in Kasane. In addition, Sonny said apart from the sex workers there is also a concern of illegal immigrants crossing at ungazetted borders points.
