INDUSTRY OBSERVATION

Before I begin, let me remind all the FleetWatch readers that this article is written in my personal capacity.

Some of the more facetious remarks you will come across apply to a recent trip I had not done for a while, that is from Gauteng to Swaziland using the Oshoek Border post.

My first comment is that a conventional passenger car now pays R55 and R37 (single entry) at the toll booths, Middelburg and Machadadorp. That is R92 for what? A 150 kilometre distance? (Yes, I know you don’t go through Machadadorp en-route to Swaziland, but I know the cost from another trip I also made recently.)

I have made this point before and I repeat it: “What is so special about toll roads?”

The road was there already before the tolls, so where is the “infrastructure development” that warrants these costs?

I am biased, admittedly, and I don’t want to belabour something which I have let off steam on before. The issue is: we want fantastic roads but at what cost to the consumer?

Consumers are not “cash cows.” The likes of you and me can afford these fees or more to the point, we are forced to afford them, but those less fortunate have a legitimate gripe to make. In my opinion these fees are exorbitant.

Be that as it may, a pleasant surprise awaited us at the Oshoek border. Everything was electronic, slick and efficient.

Now the fun part: the car I am driving is valued at around R100, 000. All that is required to “clear” the car and allow me into Swaziland is to give the car registration number (which is fed into a computer system), the number of passengers in the car and “voila,” we are in.

So we get a “stamped” piece of paper with the “penned” car registration number on it and off we proceed to the border transfer.

No new system here is there? But wait, we arrive at the actual control post and the very pleasant officer asks: “Have you declared everything such as your laptop for instance?”

The officer informed us that we would have great difficulty if we had to bring my laptop back into South Africa if it was found that it had not be declared on our way out.

We reversed the car and went back inside to complete the necessary forms at the customs desk.

After we had duly complied and passed through the control post. I got to thinking that while my car is worth R100k and the notebook R10k, the compliance for the notebook requires serial numbers, model numbers and so on while the car transfer is written on a scrap of paper!

I think in my next career I would rather consider insuring laptops/notebooks. At least I would have the comfort of knowing that the border posts make these electronic items a priority. The same cannot be said about cars, trucks and any other vehicles. Maybe I do not understand the dynamics. I have to admit I cannot fathom why so little control is exercised over vehicles.

Another point, I need to make is that the Swaziland side of the border post had a very long queue. There was a stark contrast; the slick electronic service at the South African side of the border compared to the Swaziland side with its queues complete with a customs official trying to sell junk articles in “support of some Swazi charity,” and, on top of this, some pretty surly service to go with it. And the coup de grace? A token Swazi Road Fund token of R50!

We couldn’t fathom how the South African (our) dominant economy can allow such poor service from our neighbours.

Yes of course it is another country, but surely in terms of economic forces we would “tell” the minnow countries how, what and where to do it!

Am I incorrect? Just asking?