THE Beitbridge border post is failing to cope with increased traffic made up of mainly haulage trucks shuttling between Zimbabwe and South Africa. Zimbabwe and South Africa re-opened the Beitbridge Border Post yesterday, with clearance of essential cargo, especially perishable food items, medicines and explosives being prioritised. Zimbabwe and South Africa re-opened the Beitbridge Border Post yesterday, with clearance of essential cargo, especially perishable food items, medicines and explosives being prioritised. Zimbabwe and South Africa will at midnight jointly close Beitbridge Border Post to non-residents with only Zimbabwean residents allowed to travel north and South African residents to move south. This traffic is legal, but duties are charged and the smugglers do not pay taxes. A total of 350 commercial trucks which had been parked at various customs yards on both sides of the border were cleared between 6AM and 4PM yesterday. Zimbabwe and South Africa will at midnight jointly close Beitbridge Border Post to non-residents with only Zimbabwean residents allowed to travel north and South African residents to move south. Zimra has since announced streamlined processes at Beitbridge South Africa temporarily closed its side of the border on Wednesday afternoon after one of its customs officers tested positive for Covid-19. This has resulted in intermittent traffic jams and lengthy vehicle queues that have dissected Beitbridge town into two. It is estimated that there are more than 200 illegal crossing points within 60km each side of the border post, many used to smuggle groceries into Zimbabwe and cigarettes into South Africa. On the South African side similar chaos caused by bottlenecks at the border stretched for more than 10km with the tail of the queue at the China Mall on the periphery of Musina town. ZIMBABWE and South Africa will at midnight jointly close Beitbridge Border Post to non-residents with only Zimbabwean residents allowed to travel north and South African residents to move south. Zimbabwe and South Africa re-opened the Beitbridge Border Post yesterday, with the clearance of essential cargo, especially perishable food items, medicines, and explosives being prioritised. South Africa has temporarily closed its component of Beitbridge Border Post after one of its customs officers tested positive for the novel coronavirus (covid-19). Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau South Africa has temporarily closed its component of Beitbridge Border Post after one of its customs officers tested positive for the novel coronavirus (covid19).. ... the two countries have agreed to coordinate immigration policies on each side of the border.